Fabrication of a new composite membrane consisting of MXene/PES /PEI for biofuel dehydration via pervaporation

A novel two-dimensional transition metal carbide with great potential for diverse applications is MXenes, which are synthesized and characterized in this paper. The study focuses on developing polyethersulfone (PES) and polyetherimide (PEI) mixed membranes and their modification with MXene nanoparticles for ethanol dehydration. X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques confirmed that MXene and MAX were appropriately synthesized. The morphology and characteristics of the membranes were investigated by FTIR, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) imaging, and EDX map analysis. the result of contact angle analysis shows that the hydrophilicity of the MXene membrane is modified. Also the membrane's pervaporation ability evaluated for ethanol dehydration. The modified membrane, containing 5 wt% MXene, demonstrates superior performance with a high flux rate (>81.7 g/m2h) and a reasonable separation coefficient (112.67).