ABSTRACT The development of efficient nanofiltration (NF) membranes is a critical challenge in the treatment of dye wastewater, particularly in achieving a balance between water permeability and selectivity. This work developed a nanomaterial‐assisted mussel‐inspired poly (m‐phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) loose NF membrane with high permeability and excellent dye/salt selectivity. During fabrication, polyethyleneimine (PEI) was incorporated into the dopamine solution to promote uniform polymerization of dopamine, enhancing the homogeneity of the coating layer. Meanwhile, various titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles were incorporated into the mussel‐inspired solution to enhance membrane performance. The addition of TiO 2 increases the available free volume in the membrane's thin selective layer, thus enhancing the permeation of water molecules. The modified membrane demonstrated remarkable flux (153.77 L·m −2 ·h −1 ·bar −1 ), a Congo red (CR) rejection exceeding 98%, and a favorable CR/Na 2 SO 4 selectivity of 29.6. Notably, other nanoparticles, such as graphene oxide (GO), halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), silica (SiO 2 ), zeolitic imidazolate framework‐L (ZIF‐L), and polydopamine (PDA) modified silver (Ag), can also regulate the PDA‐PEI coating structure, thereby synergistically enhancing the membrane's permeability. Moreover, the modified composite NF membrane can maintain excellent dye/salt separation performance under various operating conditions, indicating its great potential in dye desalination applications.
Wu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.