Poly[acrylate-co-amide] network composite via photopolymerization for organic solvent nanofiltration separation

•A novel poly[acrylate-co-amide] membrane was synthesized via the photopolymerization.•The UV-cured membrane showed excellent solvents resistance.•Molecular simulations reflected the dependence between voids and organic solvents.•The optimal membrane had good separation performance in THF solution. A novel poly[acrylate-co-amide] network composite nanofiltration membrane was synthesized via the photopolymerization on the top of amine-terminated polyetherimide using the photoinitiator BP and the monomers of TPGDA and PETA, of which the void size in the toplayer network can be modulated via a solvent immersion. The synthesized UV-15T2P-11 network membrane showed the permeance of 7.1 L m−2 h−1 MPa−1 and SBB rejection of 95% in THF. Then, molecular simulations suggested that DMF immersion can make the void size in the membrane toplayer increased from the pristine 1.0 nm to 1.7 nm. DMF-activated membrane p-UV-15T2P-11 shows excellent performance and long-term stability, with the permeance of 13.2 L m−2 h−1 MPa−1 and the SBB rejection of 91% in THF. These results illustrate that the photopolymerized network polymers combined with solvent activation are promising materials to manufacture organic solvent nanofiltration membranes.