Closed-loop recyclable membranes enabled by covalent adaptable networks for water purification

Abstract

In the state-of-the-art membrane industry, membranes have linear life cycles and are commonly disposed of by landfill or incineration, sacrificing their sustainability. To date, little or no thought is given in the design phase to the end-of-life management of membranes. For the first time, we have innovated high-performance sustainable membranes, which can be closed-loop recycled after long-term usage for water purification. By synergizing membrane technology and dynamic covalent chemistry, covalent adaptable networks (CANs) with thermally reversible Diels–Alder (DA) adducts were synthesized and employed to fabricate integrally skinned asymmetric membranes via the nonsolvent-induced phase separation technique. Due to the stable and reversible features of CAN, the closed-loop recyclable membranes exhibit excellent mechanical properties and thermal and chemical stabilities as well as separation performance, which are comparable to or even higher than the state-of-the-art nonrecyclable membranes. Moreover, the used membranes can be closed-loop recycled with consistent properties and separation performance by depolymerization to remove contaminants, followed by refabrication into new membranes through the dissociation and reformation of DA adducts. This study may fill in the gaps in closed-loop recycling of membranes and inspire the advancement of sustainable membranes for a green membrane industry.