Preparation of MOFs-based molecularity imprinted composite membrane biomimetically modified by PDA and its selective separation performance and mechanism

We produced ZIFs-based molecular imprinted composite membranes (ZMICMs) based on polydopamine (PDA) biomimetic modified MOFs (ZIF-8) by building a polymer layer imprinted on the membrane's surface to provide specific transport and structural selectivity for nanoscale molecules. The introduction of MOFs materials and the construction of PDA biomimetic surface had been explored to enhance the membrane separation performance, and the mechanism of interaction between functional groups in the template molecular recognition process had been systematically studied to obtain the selective separation mechanism. Adsorption tests (isothermal and kinetic adsorption) and the effectiveness of the selective separation was tested and evaluated using selectivity studies of molecular imprinted membranes (MIMs) and non-imprinted membranes (NIMs). The important testing findings demonstrated that the when prepared ZMICMs had good perm selectivity performance for atrazine (ATZ) perm selectivity factor (β = 1.60, 1.53) in addition to optimum specific adsorption ability (12.12 mg g−1). The strong specific identification ability and perm selectivity of ZMICMs demonstrated tremendous promise for the remediation of ATZ contamination. •The introduction of MOFs improves the separation performance of the membrane for atrazine.•The incorporation of PDA-modified MOFs improves the antifouling performance of the membrane.•Atrazine-specific imprinting layer was created using free radical polymerization technology.•Polydopamine modification increases the hydrophilicity of the membrane.