Bioinspired Modification of Layer-Stacked Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2) Membranes for Enhanced Nanofiltration Performance

Inorganic nanofiltration membranes with high flux are urgently needed in water purification processes. Herein, polydopamine (PDA)-modified layer-stacked molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanofiltration membranes (NFMs) were fabricated via a pressure-assisted self-assembly process. The separation performance of the as-prepared membranes with various MoS2 loadings at different dopamine polymerization times was evaluated. The pure water permeance of PDA-modified MoS2 NFMs, with MoS2 loading of 0.1103 mg/cm2 at 4 h modification, could reach 135.3 LMH/bar. The rejection toward methylene blue could reach 100% with molecular weight cutoff approximately 671 Da and a high permeability of salts. Furthermore, the resultant membrane also exhibited a satisfactory long-term stability toward dye solution and antifouling property toward bovine serum albumin. This work may give inspiration to the development of inorganic membranes with high performance, especially high pure water permeance, for water-related processes.