Leaf-vein-like dual-network structured nanofiber/net membranes enable high-performance water purification

Water pollution generated from our industrial production and everyday life have become principal contamination exacerbating the water scarcity. The existing filtration membranes, however, are usually subjected to low permeation flux and high energy consumption due to their inferior pore structure. Herein, an innovative leaf-vein-like dual-network structured nanofiber/net membrane (NNM) is constructed by surfactant-induced electrospinning/netting technology. Taylor cone ejection modes and phase inversion of the ejected droplets were synchronously manipulated by adding ionic surfactant (dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide) in the spinning solution to generate a large-scale nanonetworks consisting of nanowires with average fiber diameter of 23 nm. As a result, the NNMs show intriguing properties of submicron pores (0.7 μm), high porosity (92.5 %), and good pore connectivity, which resulting in the NNMs with high permeation flux (> 3376 L m −2 h −1 ) and promising removal efficiency (> 99.86 %) for submicron particles and excellent permeation flux (7357 L m −2 h −1 ) and favorable removal efficiency (96.30 %) for submicron emulsions at low driving pressure (≤ 20 kPa). This work may open a new avenue for the design of fibrous membranes for high-performance water purification.