A Carbonaceous Membrane based on a Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIM-1) for Water Treatment

As insufficient access to clean water is expected to become worse in the near future, water purification is becoming increasingly important. Membrane filtration is the most promising technologies to produce clean water from contaminated water. Although there have been many studies to prepare highly water-permeable carbon-based membranes by utilizing frictionless water flow inside the carbonaceous pores, the carbon-based membranes still suffer from several issues, such as high cost and complicated fabrication as well as relatively low salt rejection. Here, we report for the first time the use of microporous carbonaceous membranes via controlled carbonization of polymer membranes with uniform microporosity for high-flux nanofiltration. Further enhancement of membrane performance is observed by O2 plasma treatment. The optimized membrane exhibits high water flux (13.30 LMH Bar−1) and good MgSO4 rejection (77.38%) as well as antifouling properties. This study provides insight into the design of microporous carbonaceous membranes for water purification.