Electro‐Conductive Ti₃C₂ MXene Multilayered Membranes: Dye Removal and Antifouling Performance

Abstract This work describes the fabrication of a novel electroconductive membrane made of Ti₃C₂T_x (MXene) nanosheet coating through a one‐step pressure‐assisted technique. Ti₃C₂‐MXene is firmly attached over a polyamide–imide (PAI) microfilter by employing a binder composed of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/glutaraldehyde (GA). Through coating a proper amount of multilayer Ti₃C₂‐MXene, the electrical conductivity of 174 ± 0.16 S m⁻¹ is achieved. The rejection rates of reactive red 120 (RR120), reactive black (RB), and methyl orange (MO) by the pristine PAI membrane are 45.2%, 40.81%, and 33.65%, respectively. However, rejection rates significantly improve with the Ti₃C₂ MXene coating to over 99.71%, 97.95%, and 68.91% for RR120, RB, and MO. Applying a 4 V cathodic potential resulted in a flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 99.83% and a flux decline rate (FDR) of less than 1% during humic acid (HA) filtration. Without applying voltage, the MXene‐coated membrane shows an FRR and FDR of 92.51% and 45.56%, respectively. Surface energy analysis reveals strong repulsive interactions between foulants and the membrane surface. Moreover, the surface free energy indicates that foulants such as sodium alginate (SA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) exhibit stronger adhesion to the membrane than HA, consistent with the fouling experiment results.