Recently, Prof. Zhongyi Jiang and Prof. Fusheng Pan’s group from Tianjin University (TJU) and Prof. Zhenjie Zhang’s group from Nankai University published an article entitled “Ultrafast seawater desalination with covalent organic framework membranes” in Nature Sustainability (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00870-3). PhD candidate Meidi Wang is the first author.

Thermal-membrane coupled technology, due to the distinct energy-saving feature, is regarded as next-generation desalination technology. Covalent organic framework (COF), due to highly tailorable structures and functionalities, is expected as next-generation membrane materials. Currently, the research reports about using COF membranes in seawater desalination are quite rare.

Fig. 1 Preparation of the COF membranes

Fig. 2 Desalination performance of the COF membranes

Herein, inspired by the nesting process of sandcastle worm, the scientists prepare covalent organic framework (COF) membranes by the biomimetic adhesion engineering, using COF nanosheets with high crystallinity and large size. The resultant COF membrane exhibits excellent rejection of NaCl (99.91%) and an ultrafast water flux of 267 kg m-2 h-1, outperforming the state-of-the-art designs and is 4-10 times higher than existing polymeric membranes. Furthermore, the desired fouling resistance underpins superior operational stability (108 h) and high salinity (7.5 wt%), offering great potential in real-world applications.

Prof. Zhongyi Jiang works at the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University. His research focuses onbioinspired and biomimetic membranes & membrane processes, and enzymatic catalysis.

His research details can be found athttp://jiang-lab.com.

By: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology

Editor: Qin Mian