Irregular dot array nanocomposite molecularly imprinted membranes with enhanced antibacterial property: Synergistic promotion of selectivity, rebinding capacity and flux

Molecularly imprinted membranes capable of selective separation simultaneously desire superior selectivity, rebinding capacity and flux, where multi-microporous substrates and closely arranged molecularly imprinted polymers are demanded. The combination of hierarchical-microporous membranes and molecularly imprinted polymers with irregular dot array distribution provides a potential superiority. In present work, irregular dot array nanocomposite bisphenol A (BPA)-molecularly imprinted membranes (BPA-MIMs) with synergistically promotional performance were developed by a modification-by-imprinting strategy: (i) Hydrophilic and antibacterial modifications were implemented on hierarchical-microporous substrate membranes to improve the specific functionalities. (ii) BPA-imprinted polymers with irregular dot array structures were synthesized by “mercapto-alkenes click chemistry”. Based on specific design and optimization, selectivity, rebinding capacity and flux were synergistically enhanced onto the as-developed BPA-MIMs. The impressive permselectivity coefficients (β_BIP/BPA = 2.78, β_HQ/BPA = 7.57) with acceptable fluctuation (7.85% for β_BIP/BPA and 9.49% for β_HQ/BPA) demonstrate the superior selectivity and stability of BPA-MIMs. Importantly, the concentration-dependent and time-dependent cumulative selectivity verifies the leading contribution of the irregular dot array nanocomposite structure. Remarkable performance in semi-practical operations suggests the effectiveness of BPA-MIMs even in complex environment. The BPA-MIMs, as well as the methodology, developed in this work will provide significant potentials for membrane-based water treatment and even specific separation.