The value of dual time-point fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose PET/computed tomography imaging in predicting lymph node metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between specified dual time-point fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) imaging parameters and pathological characteristics in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. METHODS: This study retrospectively analyzed 47 patients with NSCLC. All patients underwent dual time-point 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging. We obtained the metabolic parameters, standardized uptake value (SUV) maximum, SUVmean, delayed standardized uptake value (DSUV) maximum, DSUVmean, delay index standardized uptake value (DISUV) maximum, and DISUVmean, of the primary tumor. The tumor size was measured by CT. All lymph nodes had a definite pathological diagnosis. We next evaluated the status of the lymph node metastases (LNM) and the correlations between metabolic parameters and clinical characteristics. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn for the prediction of LNM. RESULTS: We found that the DSUVmax, DISUVmax, DSUVmean, and tumor size were significantly related to LNM (P = 0.036, 0.009, and 0.049, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor size and DISUVmax were independent risk factors for LNM in lung cancer patients. According to the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the optimal cutoff values for DISUVmax and tumor size were 0.33 and 2.8 cm, respectively. When these two parameters were combined, the area under the curve for predicting LNM in NSCLC was 0.768, and the sensitivity was 95.7% for predicting LNM in lung cancer patients. We further allocated the patients to three groups: the high-risk group (tumor size ≥ 2.8 cm, DISUVmax ≥ 0.33), the moderate-risk group (tumor size ≥ 2.8 cm, DISUVmax < 0.33, or tumor size < 2.8 cm, DISUVmax ≥ 0.33), and the low-risk group (tumor size < 2.8 cm, DISUVmax < 0.33). The rates of LNM were 70, 50, and 0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Tumor size and DISUVmax are risk factors for predicting LNM, and they are more useful in combination. Compared with standard PET/CT imaging, dual time-point PET/CT imaging has added value in predicting LNM in NSCLC patients.

Micelles regulated thin film nanocomposite membrane with enhanced nanofiltration performance.

The desalination performance of thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes is significantly influenced by the nature of nanofillers and the structure of the polyamide (PA) layer. Herein, a micelles regulated interfacial polymerization (MRIP) strategy is reported for the preparation of TFN membranes with enhanced nanofiltration (NF) performance. Specially, stable and ultrafine micelles, synthesized from the poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(4-vinyl pyridine)-b-polystyrene (PEO-PVP-PS) triblock copolymers, were utilized as regulators in the aqueous phase during the interfacial polymerization (IP) process. TFN membranes were fabricated with varying concentrations of micelles to improve their properties and performances. The structure of the PA layer was further regulated by modulating the content of trimesoyl chloride (TMC), which significantly enhances the performance of the TFN membrane with micelles. Attributable to the homogeneously dispersed micelles and the modified PA layer, the optimized membrane denoted as TFN-2-0.3 exhibits an improved separation performance of 20.7 L m-2h-1 bar-1 and 99.3 % Na2SO4 rejection, demonstrating nearly twice the permeance and 2.7 % higher rejection than that of the original control membrane, respectively. The mechanism of this MRIP strategy was investigated through the diffusion experiments of piperazine (PIP) and interfacial tension tests. The incorporated micelles effectively lower the interfacial tension, promote the diffusion of PIP and accelerate the IP reaction, resulting in a denser and thinner PA layer. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that TFN membranes with micelles exhibit increased roughness, enhanced hydrophilicity, superior rejection to divalent salts, and better acid-base resistance, highlighting their potential applications in the design of TFN membranes.

Ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon Ti3C2Tx-TiN heterostructure derived from ZIF-8 nanoparticles sandwiched MXene for high-performance capacitive deionization.

Rational design of high-performance electrode materials is crucial for enhancing desalination performance of capacitive deionization (CDI). Here, ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon/Ti3C2Tx-TiN (NC/MX-TiN) heterostructure was developed by pyrolyzing zeolite imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanoparticles sandwiched MXene (ZSM), which were formed by assembling ultrafine ZIF-8 nanoparticles with size of 20 nm on both sides of MXene nanosheets. The introduction of ultrasmall ZIF-8 particles allowed for in situ nitridation of the MXene during pyrolysis, forming consecutive TiN layers tightly connected to the internal MXene. The two-dimensional (2D) heterostructure exhibited remarkable properties, including high specific surface area and excellent conductivity. Additionally, the resulting TiN demonstrated exceptional redox capability, which significantly enhanced the performance of CDI and ensured cycling stability. Benefiting from these advantages, the NC/MX-TiN exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 45.6 mg g-1 and a steady cycling performance in oxygenated saline water over 50 cycles. This work explores the rational design and construction of MXene-based 2D heterostructure and broadens new horizons for the development of novel CDI electrode materials.

Ultralight and Robust Covalent Organic Framework Fiber Aerogels.

Shaping covalent organic frameworks (COFs) into macroscopic objects with robust mechanical properties and hierarchically porous structure is of great significance for practical applications but remains formidable and challenging. Herein, a general and scalable protocol is reported to prepare ultralight and robust pure COF fiber aerogels (FAGs), based on the epitaxial growth synergistic assembly (EGSA) strategy. Specifically, intertwined COF nanofibers (100-200 nm) are grown in situ on electrospinning polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microfibers (≈1.7 µm) containing urea-based linkers, followed by PAN removal via solvent extraction to obtain the hollow COF microfibers. The resultant COF FAGs possess ultralow density (14.1-15.5 mg cm-3 ) and hierarchical porosity that features both micro-, meso-, and macropores. Significantly, the unique interconnected structure composed of nanofibers and hollow microfibers endows the COF FAGs with unprecedented mechanical properties, which can fully recover at 50% strain and be compressed for 20 cycles with less than 5% stress degradation. Moreover, the aerogels exhibit excellent capacity for organic solvent absorption (e.g., chloroform uptake of >90 g g-1 ). This study opens new avenues for the design and fabrication of macroscopic COFs with excellent properties.

Engineering Multinanochannel Polymer-Intercalated Graphene Oxide Membrane for Strict Volatile Sieving in Membrane Distillation.

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes enabled by subnanosized diffusion channels are promising to separate small species in membrane distillation (MD). However, the challenge of effectively excluding small volatiles in MD persists due to the severe swelling and subsequent increase in GO interlamination spacing upon direct contact with the hot feed. To address this issue, we implemented a design in which a polymer is confined between the GO interlaminations, creating predominantly 2D nanochannels centered around 0.57 nm with an average membrane pore size of 0.30 nm. Compared to the virginal GO membrane, the polymer-intercalated GO membrane exhibits superior antiswelling performance, particularly at a high feed temperature of 60 °C. Remarkably, the modified membrane exhibited a high flux of approximately 52 L m-2 h-1 and rejection rates of about 100% for small ions and 98% for volatile phenol, with a temperature difference of 40 °C. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the sieving mechanisms for ions and volatiles are facilitated by the narrowed nanochannels within the polymer network situated between the 2D nanochannels of GO interlaminations. Concurrently, the unrestricted permeation of water molecules through the multinanochannel GO membrane encourages high-flux desalination of complex hypersaline wastewater.

Alkadiyne-Pyrene Conjugated Frameworks with Surface Exclusion Effect for Ultrafast Seawater Desalination.

Billions of populations are suffering from the supply-demand imbalance of clean water, resulting in a global sustainability crisis. Membrane desalination is a promising method to produce fresh water from saline waters. However, conventional membranes often encounter challenges related to low water permeation, negatively impacting energy efficiency and water productivity. Herein, we achieve ultrafast desalination over the newly developed alkadiyne-pyrene conjugated frameworks membrane supported on a porous copper hollow fiber. With membrane distillation, the membrane exhibits nearly complete NaCl rejection (>99.9%) and ultrahigh fluxes (∼500 L m-2 h-1) from the seawater salinity-level NaCl solutions, which surpass the commercial polymeric membranes with at least 1 order of magnitude higher permeability. Experimental and theoretical investigations suggest that the large aspect ratio of membrane pores and the high evaporation area contribute to the high flux, and the graphene-like hydrophobic surface of conjugated frameworks exhibits complete salt exclusion. The simulations also confirm that the intraplanar pores of frameworks are impermeable for water and ions.

Iron containing sludge-derived carbon towards efficient peroxymonosulfate activation: Active site synergy, performance and alternation mechanism.

Converting industrial sludge into catalytic materials for water purification is a promising approach to simultaneously realize effective disposal of sludge and resource of water. However, manipulating the high efficiency remains a huge challenge due to the difficulty in the active sites control of the sludge. Herein, we proposed a constitutive modulation strategy by the combination of hydrothermal and pyrolysis (HTP) for the fabrication of defects-assistant Fe containing sludge-derived carbon catalysts on upgrading performance in peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation for pollutant degradation. Adjustable defects on dyeing sludge-derived carbon catalysts (DSCC) were achieved by introducing oxygen or nitrogen functional precursors (hydroquinone or p-phenylenediamine) during hydrothermal processes and by further pyrolysis, where O was detrimental while N was beneficial to defect generation. Compared to the DSCC with less defects (DHSC-O), the defect-rich sample (DHSC-2N) exhibited superior catalytic performance of PMS activation for bisphenol A (BPA) elimination (k = 0.45 min-1, 2.52 times of DHSC-O), as well as 81.4% total organic carbon (TOC) removal. Meanwhile, the degradation capacity was verified in wide pH range (2.1-8.1) and various aqueous matrices, reflecting the excellent adaptability and anti-interference performance. Furthermore, the continuous-flow experiments on industrial wastewater showed synchronous BPA and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, implying great potential for practical application. Solid electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and 57Fe Mösssbauer spectra analysis indicated that the defects acted as secondary active sites for Fe sites, which were beneficial to accelerating the electron transfer process. The only Fe active sites preferred the radical pathway. The controllable reaction tendency provides possibilities for the on-demand design of sludge-based catalysts to meet the requirements of practical wastewater treatment under Fenton-like reaction.

Dyeing sludge-derived biochar for efficient removal of antibiotic from water.

Adsorption is one of the most effective methods for ecotoxic antibiotics removal, while developing high-performance adsorbents with excellent adsorption capacity is indispensable. As the unavoidable by-product of wastewater, sewage sludge has dual properties of pollution and resources. In this study, dyeing sludge waste was converted to biochar by KOH activation and pyrolysis, and used as an efficient adsorbent for aqueous antibiotics removal. The optimized dyeing sludge-derived biochar (KSC-8) has excellent specific surface area (1178.4 m2/g) and the adsorption capacity for tetracycline (TC) could reach up to 1081.3 mg/g, which is four and five times higher than those without activation, respectively. The PSO (pseudo-second-order) kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model fitted better to the experimental data. The obtained KSC-8 has stabilized adsorption capacity for long-term fixed-bed experiments, and maintained 86.35% TC removal efficiency after five adsorption-regeneration cycles. The adsorption mechanism involves electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, π-π interactions and pore filling. This work is a green and eco-friendly way as converting the waste to treat waste in aiming of simultaneous removal of antibiotics and resource recovery of dyeing sludge.

Enhancing Uranium Removal with a Titanium-Incorporated Zirconium-Based Metal-Organic Framework.

The urgent need to efficiently and rapidly decontaminate uranium contamination in aquatic environments underscores its significance for ecological preservation and environmental restoration. Herein, a series of titanium-doped zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks were meticulously synthesized through a stepwise process. The resultant hybrid bimetallic materials, denoted as NU-Zr-n%Ti, exhibited remarkable efficiency in eliminating uranium (U (VI)) from aqueous solution. Batch experiments were executed to comprehensively assess the adsorption capabilities of NU-Zr-n%Ti. Notably, the hybrid materials exhibited a substantial increase in adsorption capacity for U (VI) compared to the parent NU-1000 framework. Remarkably, the optimized NU-Zr-15%Ti displayed a noteworthy adsorption capacity (∼118 mg g-1) along with exceptionally rapid kinetics at pH 4.0, surpassing that of pristine NU-1000 by a factor of 10. This heightened selectivity for U (VI) persisted even when diverse ions exist. The dominant mechanisms driving this high adsorption capacity were identified as the robust electrostatic attraction between the negatively charged surface of NU-Zr-15%Ti and positively charged U (VI) species as well as surface complexation. Consequently, NU-Zr-15%Ti emerges as a promising contender for addressing uranium-laden wastewater treatment and disposal due to its favorable sequestration performance.

Vehicle Operation Status Monitoring Based on Distributed Acoustic Sensor.

To develop implementation research on distributed optical fiber sensing technology, field tests were conducted on municipal roads and railways using a distributed acoustic sensor (DAS). Data were collected by the DAS during a field test for a long time period (more than 20 min), and we conducted short-term (<10 s) and long-term (≥10 s) analyses on these data separately. In the short-term data analysis, the vehicle type, vehicle length, and working status of the vehicle engine or the compressor were identified. In the long-term data analysis, the traffic flow was monitored, and the running distance, acceleration, speed, and braking distance of the vehicle were obtained. The characteristics of the vehicle operation data obtained in these field tests are important in developing the data processing method of DASs, which will help to promote the implementation of DASs.

Interlayered Interface of a Thin Film Composite Janus Membrane for Sieving Volatile Substances in Membrane Distillation.

Hypersaline wastewater treatment using membrane distillation (MD) has gained significant attention due to its ability to completely reject nonvolatile substances. However, a critical limitation of current MD membranes is their inability to intercept volatile substances owing to their large membrane pores. Additionally, the strong interaction between volatile substances and MD membranes underwater tends to cause membrane wetting. To overcome these challenges, we developed a dual-layer thin film composite (TFC) Janus membrane through electrospinning and sequential interfacial polymerization of a polyamide (PA) layer and cross-linking a polyvinyl alcohol/polyacrylic acid (PP) layer. The resulting Janus membrane exhibited high flux (>27 L m-2 h-1), salt rejection of ∼100%, phenol rejection of ∼90%, and excellent resistance to wetting and fouling. The interlayered interface between the PA and PP layer allowed the sieve of volatile substances by limiting their dissolution-diffusion, with the increasing hydrogen bond network formation preventing their transport. In contrast, small water molecules with powerful dynamics were permeable through the TFC membrane. Both experimental and molecular dynamics simulation results elucidated the sieving mechanism. Our findings demonstrate that this type of TFC Janus membrane can serve as a novel strategy to design next-generation MD membranes against volatile and non-volatile contaminants, which can have significant implications in the treatment of complex hypersaline wastewater.

Improvement of peroxymonosulfate utilization efficiency for sulfamethazine degradation by photo-electron activating peroxymonosulfate: Performance and mechanism.

Enhancing the utilization efficiency of oxidant is of great importance for advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Herein, nitrogen-doped titania dioxide/carbon (NTC7) catalyst was fabricated via pyrolyzing NH2-MIL-125 under nitrogen atmosphere at 700 °C. Excitation of NTC7 under visible light can successfully achieve efficient activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) (NTC7 + PMS + Vis). Degradation performance and PMS activation mechanism were systematically investigated using sulfamethazine (SMT) as the target pollutant. It was found that the photo-generated electrons excited from NTC7 under visible light played the dominant role in enhancing the productive consumption of PMS. Its utilization increased by 66 % (Δ[PMS]/Δ[SMT] = 7.0) in NTC7 + PMS + Vis process and the degradation rate was 2.14 times higher than that of NTC7 + PMS process. The ketonic CO groups and structural defects were responsible for the generation of 1O2 in dark activation while radicals (•OH, O2•-) were more inclined to be continuously produced in NTC7 + PMS + Vis process. The involved degradation pathways, intermediates, and toxicity assessment have been studied in detail. This work provides an effective approach to enhance the utilization efficiency of oxidant for pollutant degradation by AOPs.

Polyacrylonitrile/Aminated Polymeric Nanosphere Nanofibers as Efficient Adsorbents for Cr(VI) Removal.

In this work, polyacrylonitrile/aminated polymeric nanosphere (PAN/APN) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning of monodispersed aminated polymeric nanospheres (APNs) for removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. Characterization results showed that obtained PAN/APNs possessed nitrogen functionalization. Furthermore, the adsorption application results indicated that PAN/APN nanofibers exhibited a high adsorption capacity of 556 mg/g at 298 K for Cr(VI) removal. The kinetic data showed that the adsorption process fits the pseudo-second order. A thermodynamic study revealed that the adsorption of Cr(VI) was spontaneous and endothermic. The coexisting ions Na+, Ca2+, K+, Cl-, NO3- and PO43- had little influence on Cr(VI) adsorption, while SO42- in solution dramatically decreased the removal performance. In the investigation of the removal mechanism, relative results indicated that the adsorption behavior possibly involved electrostatic adsorption, redox reaction and chelation. PAN/APN nanofibers can detoxify Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and subsequently chelate Cr(III) on its surface. The unique structure and nitrogen functionalization of PAN/APN nanofibers make them novel and prospective candidates in heavy metal removal.

Modular assembly of MOF-derived carbon nanofibers into macroarchitectures for water treatment.

The organized assembly of nanoparticles into complex macroarchitectures opens up a promising pathway to create functional materials. Here, we demonstrate a scalable strategy to fabricate macroarchitectures with high compressibility and elasticity from hollow particle-based carbon nanofibers. This strategy causes zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8)-polyacrylonitrile nanofibers to assemble into centimetre-sized aerogels (ZIF-8/NFAs) with expected shapes and tunable functions on a large scale. On further carbonization of ZIF-8/NFAs, ZIF-8 nanoparticles are transformed into a hollow structure to form the carbon nanofiber aerogels (CNFAs). The resulting CNFAs integrate the properties of zero-dimensional hollow structures, one-dimensional nanofibers, and three-dimensional carbon aerogels, and exhibit a low density of 7.32 mg cm-3, high mechanical strength (rapid recovery from 80% strain), outstanding adsorption capacity, and excellent photo-thermal conversion potential. These results provide a platform for the future development of macroarchitectured assemblies from nanometres to centimetres and facilitate the design of multifunctional materials.

Rational Regulation of Co-N-C Coordination for High-Efficiency Generation of 1O2 toward Nearly 100% Selective Degradation of Organic Pollutants.

Single oxygen-based advanced oxidation processes (1O2-AOPs) exhibit great prospects in selective degradation of organic pollutants. However, efficient production of 1O2 via tailored design of catalysts to achieve selective oxidation of contaminants remains challenging. Herein, we develop a simple strategy to regulate the components and coordination of Co-N-C catalysts at the atomic level by adjusting the Zn/Co ratio of bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZnxCo1-ZIFs). Zn4Co1-C demonstrates 98% selective removal of phenol in the mixed phenol/benzoic acid (phenol/BA) solutions. Density functional theory calculations and experiments reveal that more active CoN4 sites are generated in Zn4Co1-C, which are beneficial to peroxymonosulfate activation to generate 1O2. Furthermore, the correlation between the origin of selectivity and well-defined catalysts is systematically investigated by the electron paramagnetic resonance test and quenching experiments. This work may provide novel insights into selective removal of target pollutants in a complicated water matrix.

All-Polymer and Self-Roughened Superhydrophobic PVDF Fibrous Membranes for Stably Concentrating Seawater by Membrane Distillation.

Novel specially wettable membranes have been attracting significant attention for durable membrane distillation (MD). However, constructing a superhydrophobic interface often has to undergo complex modification procedures including roughness construction and hydrophobic modification. Herein, all-polymer and self-roughened superhydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) fibrous membranes (PVDF FMs) with robustly stable pores were successfully constructed via electrospinning of fluorinated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes/PVDF (F-POSS/PVDF) emulsion solution in combination with hot-pressing. The comparative experiment reveals that proper hot-pressing, including adequate temperature and pressure, can help improve membrane pore stability by welding the intersecting fibers and increase the membrane surface hydrophobicity by transferring the inner fluorine chains to the outer fiber surface, simultaneously advancing membrane scaling and fouling resistance. Nevertheless, excessive temperature or pressure will destroy the interconnected pores and surface wettability of the PVDF FM. Significantly, the hot-pressing-treated F-POSS/PVDF FM shows a high water recovery (∼90%) and robust stability after five rounds of the concentration process toward concentrating natural seawater as a target. Thus, the all-polymer and self-roughened superhydrophobic PVDF FMs constructed via electrospinning combined with the thermal treatment have potential applications in concentrating hypersaline brines, which make up for the other membrane technology, including reverse osmosis and nanofiltration technologies that failed to concentrate hypersaline solutions.

In Situ Three-Dimensional Welded Nanofibrous Membranes for Robust Membrane Distillation of Concentrated Seawater.

Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for treating the concentrated seawater discharged from the desalination process. Interconnected porous membranes, fabricated by additive manufacturing, have received significant attention for MD technology because of their excellent permeability. However, their poor hydrophobic durability induced by the deformation of pores constrains their water desalination performance. Herein, an in situ three-dimensional (3D) welding approach involving emulsion electrospinning is reported for fabricating robust nanofibrous membranes. The reported method is simple and effective for welding nanofibers at their intersections, and the reinforced membrane pores are uniform in the 3D space. The results show that the in situ 3D welded nanofibrous membrane, with a stability of 170 h and water recovery of 76.9%, exhibits better desalination performance than the nonwelded (superhydrophobic) nanofibrous membrane and the postwelded (superhydrophobic) nanofibrous membrane. Furthermore, the stability mechanism of the in situ 3D welded nanofibrous membrane and the two different wetting mechanisms of the nonwelded and postwelded nanofibrous membranes were investigated in the current work. More significantly, the in situ 3D welded nanofibrous membrane can further concentrate the actual concentrated seawater (121°E, 37°N) to crystallization, demonstrating its potential applications for the desalination of challenging concentrated seawater.

Bioinspired superwetting fibrous skin with hierarchical roughness for efficient oily water separation.

Developing superwetting membranes with interconnected pore and multi-scale roughness for efficient oily water separation is significant but challenging owing to the limitations of low water flux and membrane fouling. Herein, we report a scalable method to develop superwetting membranes with superhydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity for oily water separation. This novel approach, composed of electrospinning/electrospraying of polyacrylonitrile (PAN), was to fabricate rough sphere membrane substrate, followed by in-situ polymerization of dopamine/polyethyleneimine (DA/PEI) to positively charge the fiber skin and then subsequent immersed into the negatively charged Ludox solution to construct rough membrane surface via electrostatic attraction. Benefiting from the rough sphere surface of the fibrous skin layer, the resultant membrane displayed micro/nanostructured surfaces with intriguing in-air superhydrophilicity of 0° and underwater superoleophobicity of 166° as well as robust oil-proof pressure of 83.55 kPa. As a proof-of-concept, the resultant membrane achieved high water flux and oil rejection efficiency as well as fantastic durability and antifouling performance toward the separation of highly emulsified oily water. The integration of electrospinning/electrospraying with bioinspired method is also expected to fabricate superwetting sphere surface membrane with interconnected pores for other selective separation applications.

Polyamidoamine dendrimer grafted forward osmosis membrane with superior ammonia selectivity and robust antifouling capacity for domestic wastewater concentration.

Developing a forward osmosis (FO) membrane with superior ammonia selectivity and robust antifouling performance is important for treating domestic wastewater (DW) but challenging due to the similar polarities and hydraulic radii of NH4+ and water molecules. Herein, we investigated the feasibility of using polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer to simultaneously enhance the ammonia rejection rate and antifouling capacity of the thin-film composite (TFC) FO membrane. PAMAM dendrimer with abundant, easily-protonated, terminal amine groups was grafted on TFC-FO membrane surface via covalent bonds, which inspired the TFC-FO membrane surface with appreciable Zeta potential (isoelectric point: pH = 5.5) and outstanding hydrophilicity (water contact angle: 39.83 ±â€¯0.57°). Benefiting from the electrostatic repulsion between the protonated amine layer and NH4+-N as well as the concentration-induced diffusion resistance, the introduction of PAMAM dendrimer endowed the grafted membrane with a superior NH4+-N rejection rate of 98.23% and a significantly reduced the reverse solute flux when using NH4Cl solutions as feed solution. Meanwhile, the perfect balance between the electrostatic repulsion to positively-charged micromoleculer ions (metal ions and NH4+-N) and the electrostatic attraction to negatively-charged macromolecular organic foulants together with the hydrophilic nature of amine groups facilitated the enhancement of the grafted membranes in antifouling capacity and hence the NH4+-N selectivity (rejection rate of 91.81%) during the concentration of raw DW. The overall approach of this work opens up a frontier for preparation of ammonia-selective and antifouling TFC-FO membrane.

Calcinable Polymer Membrane with Revivability for Efficient Oily-Water Remediation.

Fouling of polymeric membranes remains a major challenge for long-term operation of oily-water remediation. The common reclamation methods to recycle fouled membranes have the issues of either incomplete degradation of organic pollutants or damage to filter membranes. Here, a calcinable polymer membrane with effective reclamation after fouling is reported, which shows full recovery of the original oil/water separation efficiency. The membrane is made of polysulfonamide/polyacrylonitrile fibers by emulsion electrospinning, followed by hydrothermal decoration of TiO2 nanoparticles. The bonding structured fibrous membrane displays outstanding thermal stability in air (400 °C), strong acid/alkali resistance (at the pH range from 1 to 13), and robust tensile strength. As a result, the chemically fouled polymeric membrane can be easily reclaimed without decreasing in separation performance and mechanical properties by annealing treatment. As a proof-of-concept, the as-prepared membrane is integrated into a wastewater separation tank, which achieves a high water flux over 3000 L m-2 h-1 and oil rejection efficiency of 99.6% for various oil-in-water emulsions. The presented strategy on membrane fabrication is believed to be an effective remedy for membrane fouling, and should apply in a wider field of filtration industry.