Palygorskite/silver nanoparticles incorporated polyamide thin film nanocomposite membranes with enhanced water permeating, antifouling and antimicrobial performance.

Palygorskite (Pal) is a highly hydrophilic clay mineral with tubular structure and high aspect ratio, which facilitates the attachment of nanoparticles to their surface. It has become a promising new membrane preparation additive due to its lotus root like tubular structure, low price and environmental friendliness. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have excellent antibacterial ability, and their incorporation into the membrane can significantly improve the bacteriostasis of the membrane. Herein, Pal was coated by polydopamine (PDA), which acted as both the adhesive and reducing agent for AgNPs. The incorporation of the Pal/Ag nanocomposite resulted in a thin polyamide (PA) layer with rough surface morphology, which facilitated the improvement of membrane permeability. Furthermore, the Pal's parallel tubes with a 0.37 × 0.63 nm2 cross-sectional area provided nanochannels allowing fast pass through of water molecules. The as-prepared TFN-7.5Pal/Ag membrane exhibited a permeate flux of 39.9 LMH at 16 bar, which was 1.6 times as high as that of the TFC membrane, accompanied with an acceptable NaCl rejection of 98.3%. Besides, antibacterial tests demonstrated that the TFN membrane presented excellent antibacterial performance against Escherichia coli (98.0%).