Cationic hyperbranched poly(amido-amine) engineered nanofiltration membrane for molecular separation

High-efficient separation of molecules is of great significance in food, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and dairy industries. To this end, cationic hyperbranched poly (amido-amine)s (HBPs) with different numbers of quaternary ammonium groups were employed as a new kind of 3D spherical macromonomers to fabricate nanofiltration (NF) membranes, through interfacial polymerization (IP) between cationic HBPs and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on a polyvinyl chloride ultrafiltration (PVC-UF) hollow fiber membrane surface. Apart from the inner voids inside cationic HBP molecules for fast transport of water molecules, sizes and charge properties of the outer voids between cationic HBP molecules can be modulated by changing the numbers of quaternary ammonium groups on cationic HBP molecule surfaces for enhancing both high permeability and selectivity (water permeance and MgCl 2 rejection rate of the resultant NF membrane are up to 310.5 L m −2  h −1 MPa −1 and 92.0% respectively). Based on the separation mechanism of combined steric and Donnan effects, the resultant NF membrane exhibits ultrahigh retentions to molecules with high molecular weights (MWs) or positive charges, thus molecular-level selectivity to VB12/VB2 (neutral molecules with distinct MWs) or VB1/VB2 (cationic/neutral molecules with similar MWs) can be achieved.