View article

Nanofiltration (NF)-based purification technology has been considered as an efficient approach for providing freshwater due to its excellent feasibility and selectivity for treating saline water. However, the preparation of high-performance NF membranes with simultaneously high water permeance and fouling resistance still remains a bottleneck in the practical fabrication process. To provide new insights into the fabrication of highly permeable and fouling resistant TFC membranes, two NF membranes were fabricated via a gutter- and coating layer-assisted strategy using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The surface morphologies, chemical structures, and filtration performances were systematically evaluated. The PVA gutter-layered NF membrane (PA-TFC-I) showed a much rougher and higher negatively charged surface, reaching an outstanding water permeability of 28.2 ± 0.3 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹ with excellent rejection to …