Synthesis of highly stable UiO-66-NH2 membranes with high ions rejection for seawater desalination

Compact and phase-pure UiO-66-NH 2 membranes were synthesized on the 3-aminopropy-ltriethoxysilane (APTES) modified macroporous Al 2 O 3 tubes through a repeated synthesis strategy. APTES acts as a molecular linker for anchoring the metal ions onto the support surface to promote the nucleation and the crystallization of UiO-66-NH 2 membrane. Therefore, well-intergrown UiO-66-NH 2 membranes could be prepared through a repeated synthesis method on the APTES-modified macroporous Al 2 O 3 tubes. The developed UiO-66-NH 2 membranes were evaluated for seawater desalination by pervaporation . It is found that the UiO-66-NH 2 membranes show high desalination performances attributing to the narrow pore size which is exactly in between the size of water molecules and hydrated ions . With increasing the feed temperature from 318 to 363 K, the water fluxes increase from 1.5 to 12.1 kg m −2  h −1 , with ions rejections of above 99.7%. Further, the UiO-66-NH 2 membranes display high stability for a long time in seawater desalination, which is very promising for seawater desalination.