Fabrication of in-situ polymerized UiO-66/PVDF supramolecular membranes with high anti-fouling performance

The composite membrane with the advantages of high separation efficiency and wide application, has been widely concerned in the field of water purification and molecular separation. However, the common composite membrane cannot achieve continuity, or the grafting process is complex, which significantly hinders its further development. In this work, the in-situ polymerization of UiO-66/PVDF supramolecular flat membranes as the continuous and high-performance composite membrane can be easily synthesized using the supramolecular force, (such as, hydrogen bond, etc.). These supramolecular membranes exhibit good hydrophilic (61°) and anti-fouling performance for bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution with rejection rate 97.79% than the original membrane. Moreover, this membrane can achieve more MOF doping based on maintaining the membrane performance, which undoubtedly greatly improves its hydrophilicity and mechanical properties. In addition, we also characterized the porous microstructure of the UiO-66/PVDF supramolecular membrane to analyze the influence of different doping amounts on the membrane structure. This supramolecular membrane has the advantages of simple synthesis, good hydrophilicity and water separation performance, which provides a more convenient and effective way for the preparation of MOFs/polymer flat membrane, and also provides a new method and new idea for expanding the application of MOFs/polymer ultrafiltration membrane in water treatment.