Hyaluronic acid-modified nanofiltration membrane for ultrahigh water permeance and efficient rejection of PFASs

Emerging contaminants (ECs) in water, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), require more efficient separation technology for water treatment . Although nanofiltration (NF) has exhibited the potential to remove small organic molecules, enhancing water permeance without sacrificing the rejection of the membrane is still a big challenge. Herein, we fabricate a novel thin-film composite (TFC) membrane by introducing a hyaluronic acid (HA) interlayer . The hydrogen bonds between HA and amine monomers depress the mass transfer of piperazine, which is beneficial for constructing a thinner and denser polyamide (PA) layer. As a result, we finally obtained a novel TFC membrane with a PA layer with a more negative surface, reduced thickness, crumpled structure and higher degree of cross-linking. Moreover, the obtained TFC membrane exhibits an excellent water permeance of 29.53 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 and high rejection for Na 2 SO 4 (94.90 %) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) (93.4 %). In light of the low cost and ease of performance, our study proposes a new, green strategy for fabricating TFC NF membranes for environmental water treatment that could feasibly be extended to industrial applications.