Thin film composite reverse osmosis membranes with metal-organic coordination complexes stabilized CNTs interlayer for enhanced removal of trace organic contaminants

Reverse osmosis (RO) has been recognized as a reliable technique for wastewater reclamation. To enhance its rejection of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), a novel strategy was proposed to improve reverse osmosis (RO) membranes by fabricating thin-film nanocomposite membrane (TFNi) with a TA-Fe 3+ /CNTs interlayer. The TFNi-30 membrane was obtained by optimizing the loading capacity. This optimized membrane gave rise to an enhanced water permeance of 3.2 ± 0.2 L m -2  h -1 bar -1 , which was two times higher than that of the control membrane (1.1 ± 0.2 L m -2  h -1 bar -1 ), while achieving a considerably higher rejection of inorganic salts and trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) thanks to the formation of a denser polyamide rejection layer. In addition, the specific roles of the interlayer structure in determining the separation performance of RO membranes were investigated by tailoring the support-free RO membranes and comparing them with the conventional membranes. This study would provide a peer reference for designing high performance RO membranes for wastewater reclamation via the TFNi strategy.