Cross?linked boron nitride?piperazine amide thin film nanocomposite membranes for rejection and concentration of per? and poly?fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-contaminated wastewaters present major public health risks given the PFAS thermo-chemical stability its demonstrated adverse impacts on aquatic life, extended to entire food chain. To date, remediation of PFAS-contaminated have been mainly undertaken with poorly cost-effective strategies, involving multi-step processes. Advanced separation systems enabling selective capture concentration must be developed. In this work, potential nanofiltration (NF) membranes reject short chain length PFAS, potassium nonafluoro-1-butanesulfonate (C4F9SO3K), is both bare polymeric amine functionalized-boron nitride BN(NH2) nanosheet-decorated membranes. The BN(NH2)-decorated exhibited almost 1.04 times higher permeation upon C4F9SO3K filtration compared poly(piperazine amide) (PPA) (53 versus 26 L m?2 h?1), while maintaining very high rejection levels above 93%. A commercial membrane similar membrane, but only retained ?65% C4F9SO3K. improved performance was rationalized based advanced characterization results enhanced wettability negative charge density, resulting in weak interactions between nanosheets. This communication demonstrates role fine surface modifications NF support towards removal.