Silk Nanofibril-Palygorskite Composite Membranes for Efficient Removal of Anionic Dyes
Xu-rui Wang,
Zhe-yi Meng,
Xue-fen Wang,
Wei-long Cai,
Ke Liu,
Dong Wang
Affiliations
Xu-rui Wang
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Zhe-yi Meng
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Xue-fen Wang
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Wei-long Cai
Qingyuan Innovation Laboratory, Quanzhou 362801, China
Ke Liu
Key Laboratory of Textile Fiber and Products, Ministry of Education, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Intelligent Textile Materials and Application, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China
Dong Wang
Key Laboratory of Textile Fiber and Products, Ministry of Education, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Intelligent Textile Materials and Application, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China
To develop membrane materials with good performance for water purification that are green and low cost, this work reports an organic–inorganic composite membrane composed of silk nanofibrils (SNFs) and palygorskite (PGS). To improve the stability of the the composite membrane, genipin was used as a crosslinking agent to induce the conformational transition of SNF chains from random coils to β-sheets, reducing the swelling and hydrolysis of the membrane. The separation performance can be adjusted by tailoring the component ratio of the nanomaterial. The results showed that these membranes can effectively remove anionic dyes from water, and they exhibit excellent water permeability. The SNF-based membrane had strong mechanical and separation properties, and the PGS could tune the structure of composite membranes to enhance their permeability, so this green composite membrane has good prospects in water treatment and purification applications.
