Codeposition Modification of Cation Exchange Membranes with Dopamine and Crown Ether To Achieve High K+ Electrodialysis Selectivity

Surface modification has been proven to be an effective approach for ion exchange membranes to achieve separation of counterions with different valences by altering interfacial construction of membranes to improve ion transfer performance. In this work, we have fabricated a series of novel cation exchange membranes (CEMs) by modifying sulfonated polysulfone (SPSF) membranes via codeposition of mussel-inspired dopamine (DA) and 4′-aminobenzo-15-crown-5 (ACE), followed by glutaraldehyde cross-linking, aiming at achieving selective separation of specific cations. The as-prepared membranes before and after modification were systematically characterized in terms of their structural, physicochemical, electrochemical, and electrodialytic properties. In the electrodialysis process, the modified membranes exhibit distinct perm selectivity to K+ ions in binary (K+/Li+, K+/Na+, K+/Mg2+) and ternary (K+/Li+/Mg2+) systems. In particular, at a constant current density of 5.0 mA·cm–2, modified membrane M-co-0.50 shows s...