Genghao Gong

Selective dye/salt separation from textile wastewater requires membranes retain organic dyes while allowing inorganic salts to pass with limited resistance. Here, porous silica nanosheet materials (SNM) containing vertically oriented through-plane nanopores were incorporated into graphene oxide (GO) laminates to construct multidirectional transport pathways for loose nanofiltration. Unlike conventional spacer-modified GO membranes that primarily regulate interlayer spacing, SNM incorporation disrupted compact GO stacking, created GO/SNM interfacial regions, and introduced intrinsic through-plane nanopores. The resulting membrane therefore exhibited a cooperative transport architecture comprising GO interlayer channels, GO/SNM interfacial pathways, and SNM through-plane channels. GO/SNM-5 achieved the highest pure-water permeance of 70.5 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹, approximately three times that of pristine GO. Moreover, GO/SNM-15 provided a more favorable permeability–selectivity balance, with a permeance of 37.9 L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹ and 91.1% methylene blue (MB) rejection. In binary dye/salt feeds, GO/SNM-15 showed an NaCl rejection of approximately 0.9% and an MB/NaCl separation factor of 101.2. Meanwhile, MB rejection remained above 90% during pressure-dependent filtration and 72 h of continuous MB/NaCl separation. Intercalation of 2D porous SNM with vertically oriented through-plane nanopores reconfigured the predominantly tortuous transport in GO laminates into a cooperative interlayer–interfacial–through-plane transport network, enabling rapid salt passage while maintaining effective dye retention, providing an effective strategy for balancing permeability and selective dye retention in dye/salt loose nanofiltration.

Electroactive membrane filtration (EMF) technology is one of the most promising candidates for next‐generation water treatment, and developing electroactive membranes with high catalytic activity and robust stability has become a major focus in the field. Here, a non‐solvent induced phase separation (NIPS)/carbonization strategy to fabricate carbon‐doped ceramic (CDC) membranes is introduced, which enables precise control over the membrane structure as well as the active N doping sites and lattice defect content in the catalytic material. This structural optimization endows CDC membranes with high efficiency and stability in electrocatalytic organic pollutant degradation. Comprehensive characterization and theoretical calculations reveal that tuning the carbonization temperature significantly enhances the electrocatalytic properties of carbon materials by modifying nitrogen deposition sites and generating lattice defects. Using EMF, the optimized CDC membrane achieves over 99% dye removal efficiency with very low energy consumption (0.011 kWh m ⁻³ order ⁻¹ ). Furthermore, the optimized small and uniform sponge‐like pore structure imparts the CDC membranes with high mechanical strength, excellent antifouling properties, and long‐term operational stability (>12 h). This study provides insights into the impact of both macro‐ and microstructural characteristics on EMF performance while elucidating the underlying mechanisms.