Carbon Dots Regulating Microstructure of Polyamide Layer of Forward Osmosis Membrane for Anti-Biofouling and Unexpected Dual-Enhancement in Water Flux and Salt Rejection

The introduction of hydrophilic nanomaterials into the polyamide (PA) layer of forward osmosis (FO) membranes usually leads to the enhancement in water flux but a reduction in salt rejection. The decrease in salt rejection, however, inevitably influences the osmotic efficiency and operation cost. In this work, m-phenylenediamine (MPD), one of the chemicals of interfacial polymerization, was utilized as a precursor to synthesize carbon dots (MPD-C-dots) with a good photosensitization functionality. The MPD-C-dots were introduced into the PA layer of FO membranes through co-interfacial polymerization (denoted as Single-C-dots-M), and further grafted onto the PA layer by the conjugation of the residual acyl chloride of trimesoyl chloride with the amine of MPD-C-dots (denoted as Double-C-dots-M). The as-prepared Double-C-dots-M exhibited more outstanding FO performances than the pristine membrane (Control-M) and Single-C-dots-M. Most unexpectedly, the dual-enhancement in water flux and salt rejection of Double-C-dots-M was found. The further studies reveal that Double-C-dots-M had smaller and more uniform pore size, but larger porosity than the other two. In addition, the biofouling-resistance tests demonstrate that MPD-C-dots-M had an excellent anti-biofouling performance by generating singlet oxygen (1O2) under light irradiation. The proposed Double-C-dots-M provided a typical protocol for improving the performances of FO membrane, especially for the synchronous enhancement in water flux and salt rejection.