A thorough overview of the recent developments in membrane modification by incorporation of different types of nanoparticles in polymeric membranes resulting in improved fouling resistance and membrane wettability is given. Membrane modifications and membrane fabrication techniques, advanced membrane preparation using nanoscale materials, and future research are evaluated and discussed.

Abstract

Membrane distillation (MD), a temperature-driven membrane separation process, is used for various applications due to its less complicated design. MD operations encounter major issues such as permeate flux decrease, membrane fouling, and wetting. A lot of research has been conducted in the past years on the modification of MD membranes by incorporating nanomaterials to overcome these obstacles and considerably increase their performance. Nanomaterials incorporated into the membranes improve the water permeability, mechanical strength, and fouling. The incorporation of next-generation nanomaterials like metal oxide nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, graphene-based membranes, quantum dots, and metal-organic frameworks in the MD membranes is investigated. Essential membrane properties for MD operations are comprehensively studied, including higher liquid entry pressure, permeability, porosity, hydrophobicity, thermal stability, mean pore size, and low fouling rate. Significant advances in the application of nanomaterials to the modification of MD membranes as well as other membrane fabrication techniques adopted for the incorporation of nanoparticles like surface grafting, interfacial polymerization, plasma polymerization, and dip coating are reviewed. Important future aspects are discussed.