1 3 5 benzenetricarbonyl trichloride trimesoyl chloride tmc

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF, MW = 450,000 g mol⁻¹, Kynar Powerflex®LBG, Arkema Inc., Canterbury, VIC, Australia) was used as the membrane support polymer in this study. Acetone (99.8%, Chem-Supply, Gillman, SA, Australia) and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc, 99%, Sigma-Aldrich, Sydney, NSW, Australia) were used as solvents. Branched polyethylenimine (PEI, M_w = 750,000 g mol⁻¹, Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louise, MO, USA), poly-(acrylic acid) (PAA, M_w = 100,000 g mol⁻¹, Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louise, MO, USA) were used as the electrolytes. 1,3-phenylenediamine (MPD, 99%, Sigma-Aldrich, Castle Hill, NSW, Australia) and 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (trimesoyl chloride, TMC, 98%, Sigma-Aldrich, Australia) were used as the precursors for IP. For the water flux test, sodium chloride (NaCl, Chem-Supply, Australia) was used as solute for the draw solution. 2-propanol (isopropyl alcohol, IPA, Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louise, MO, USA) was used for membrane wetting. All chemicals were used as received.

The following chemicals were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA): 1,3,5 benzene tricarbonyl trichloride (trimesoyl chloride, TMC), m-phenylenediamine (MPD), sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), sodium bromide (>99%), American Chemical Society (ACS) reagent grade sodium hydroxide (≥97.0%), solution reagent grade sodium hypochlorite (10–15%), ethanol (200 proof), and (2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl (TEMPO) free radical (98%). Hexanes, sodium chloride, and dialysis tubing were purchased from Fisher Scientific (Hampton, NH, USA). Polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membranes were provided by DOW Filmtec (Minneapolis, MN, USA). Cellulose nanocrystals were obtained from the University of Maine (Orono, ME, USA).

Acrylic acid (AA, 99.0%), sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS, 98.5%), hexane (98.0%), 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (trimesoyl chloride, TMC) (98.0%), m-phenylenediamine (MPDA, 98.0%), hexane (98.0%), zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (<50 nm particle size (BET), >97%), and ammonium chloride (99.5%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Darmstadt, Germany) as analytical grade reagents. These reagents were all utilized without any further purification. Ultrafiltration (UF) polyethersulfone (PES) (PES-Radel 300, 5.00 kDa) membranes were purchased from Microdyn Nadir (Johannesburg, South Africa).