Fabrication of 2D Vanadium MXene Polyphenylsulfone Ultrafiltration Membrane for Enhancing the Water Flux and for Effective Separation of Humic Acid and Dyes from Wastewater.

MXene, a new 2D transition metal carbide-based material, is gaining outstanding attention in recent days in the area of separation and purification. In this study, we have successfully synthesized vanadium-based MXene-V 2 CT x (where T represents functional groups such as -OH, O, and F) by etching an aluminum layer from V 2 AlC. For the first time, a vanadium-based MXene-V 2 CT x -embedded mixed matrix membrane was fabricated and utilized for removal of hazardous dye and humic acid from wastewater. With an increase in V 2 CT x loading, the hydrophilicity of the polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) membrane reasonably improved, and its water contact angle was reduced from 82.8 to 70.9°. V 2 CT x nanosheet-embedded PPSU membrane exhibited an excellent pure water permeability of 247 L m -2 h -1, which was 266% elevated than the pristine PPSU membrane. The V 2 CT x -PPSU membrane revealed a good antifouling nature, thermal stability, and 98.5% removal of humic acid. The optimal membrane exhibited 96.6 and 82.02% expulsion of Reactive Black 5 (RB 5) dye and Reactive Orange 16 (RO 16) dye, respectively. The flux for RO 16 and RB 5 dyes and humic acid were remarkable with a value of 202.02, 161.61, and 141.41 L m -2 h -1 , respectively. This work provides a new V 2 CT x -incorporated PPSU ultrafiltration membrane to effectively treat humic acid and dye wastewater.