Nature-inspired design of micro-fiber skeleton structure of polyphenylene sulfide hollow fiber membrane for wastewater treatment in extreme environments

WL Liu and GF Yang and ME Zhang and S Wang and YR Du and JQ Wu and SH Yuan and ML Zhang and KM Su and X Du and ZH Li, SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY, 379, 134931 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2025.134931

In this study, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) hollow fiber membrane (HFM) was prepared via melt-spinning (MS) and hot-stretching (HS), which inspired by the natural pattern structure and wicker fiber structure. We utilized molecular dynamics (MD) to investigate the structural changes in an as-spun membrane composite system under HS. During the HS process, the crystallinity of PPS had been improved, the molecular structure of PPS had undergone orientation, and the pore structure gradually evolved into micro-fiber skeleton structure. When the stretching ratio is 300 % (M-3), the pure water flux (PWF) of PPS HFM is 25.1 L & sdot;m-2 & sdot;h-1 & sdot;bar-1 and the M-3 has a separation efficiency of more than 90 % for pollutants. The individual flux recovery ratio (FRR) values of consecutive cleaning cycles are 80 % (FRR1) and 79 % (FRR2), respectively. What's more, the PPS HFM shows the excellent stability in extreme environment. A number of the dissolved pore appeared and a spider web structure formed in the longitudinal section after hot- solvent treatment. Compared with M-3, the PWF, the rejection of dye and the breaking strength were increased. Interestingly, the secondary treatments (hot-solvent and hot-air) membranes retain excellent operational stability even in hot-air, acidic/alkaline environments, organic solvents, and hot and higher concentration of NMP solutions. This study not only developed a kind of PPS HFM with biomimetics structure, but also proposed the idea of spinning-stretching-swelling preparation of PPS HFM.

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