Development of Photoresponsive Nano-structured Materials Integrated Hyper-Cross-Linked Polyamide Thin Film Nanocomposite Nanofiltration Membranes With Self-Cleaning Properties For Water Decontamination and Desalination Applications

Humanity is facing a global challenge of dwindling water resources and the situation is intensifying due to growing population causing excessive water pollution. Nanofiltration is an important membrane based technology for the production of clean and potable water for domestic and industrial setups. Development of high performance hyper-cross-linked polyamide Nano-filtration (NF) membranes with self-cleaning characteristics presents a potential alternative for water purification, desalination and water treatment because of its effectiveness, simplicity and low cost. In this research project, we will aim to develop robust and high performance hyper-cross-linked NF membranes by the incorporation of functionalized nanostructured materials in the active layer by interfacial polymerization on the surface of self-fabricated porous PSf/PET membrane support. The pristine and amine functionalized nanostructured materials such as polypyrrole (having amine group) decorated graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets, amine functionalized graphene quantum dots and amine functionalized porous graphene nano-sheets will first be synthesized using simple and facile synthesis techniques for the proper crosslinking in the polyamide active layer. Then, these pristine and functionalized nanostructured materials will be incorporated/cross-linked in the polyamide active layer by interfacial polymerization using multifunctional amine and linear cross linker on the surface of porous PSf/PET membrane support. To the best of our knowledge, this represents one of the few attempts to fabricate advanced nanostructured materials incorporated hyper-cross-linked polyamide Nano-filtration (NF) membranes with self-cleaning characteristics by an economical and eco-friendly route and use it for water decontamination, water purification, and desalination applications