Membrane filtration and affinity-based adsorption are two of the most commonly used strategies in separation techniques. Here, micrometer-thick multifunctional and sustainable electrospun cellulose acetate (CA) composite membranes infused with functionalized, anionic and cationic cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) with enhanced wettability, pull Tensile strength and excellent retention capacity. oltp database introduction can uniformly penetrate into the 3D CA network, effectively improving its performance. The impregnation of cationic CNC at a concentration of 0.5 wt% significantly increased the tensile strength (1669%) while maintaining a high permeation flux of 9400 Lm-2h−1, which is remarkable for cellulose-modified electrospun membranes . Anionic CNC-infused membranes retained 96% of particles at 500 nm and 77% of 100 nm latex beads, while cationic CNC membranes employed a combined selectivity and size exclusion 81% of cases were retained. nm latex beads and 80% to 50 nm silver nanoparticles. We envision that the developed multifunctional membrane could be used in affinity- and size-exclusion-based filtration to selectively capture biologically interesting bacteria or substances.
Multifunctional membrane technology, i.e. membranes capable of performing multiple functions such as retention, adsorption and/or catalysis, is an emerging field of research due to its potential in several application areas such as biomedical, environmental, air and water treatment technologies. potential. In particular, polymer membranes have been widely revealed for their advanced properties, facile fabrication, selectivity, and tunable properties. Among the various membrane fabrication methods available, electrospinning is a proven technique for the rapid production of nonwoven interconnected fibrous mats with high porosity and specific surface area [1]. Electrospinning allows fibers to be oriented on the mesoscopic scale and enables control of the bulk density and porosity of the membrane [2]. However, the main challenge of these membranes is to optimize the porosity and surface charge, parameters that affect the membrane rejection efficiency, without reducing the permeate flux. Therefore, electrospun layers are often used as nonwoven support layers in layered and multilayer membrane structures and further combined with active separation layers. The electrospun support layer consists of interconnected voids that provide high porosity (75-85%), high flux, and mechanical strength to the composite membrane. Several natural and synthetic polymers have been used to produce electrospun nonwoven support layers with different fiber diameters to control pore size in ultra/microfiltration applications