Fabrication of hyperbranched polyamidoamine functionalized with cucurbituril to improve dyes and heavy metals removal capability of the polyethersulfone nanofiltration membrane

A new hyperbranched polyamidoamine polymer functionalized with cucurbituril (HBPA@Cucurbituril) was fabricated to enhance the antifouling properties of polyethersulfone (PES) membrane to remove dye pollutants and heavy metal ions (e.g., As³⁺ and Hg²⁺). ATR-FTIR, TGA, SEM, zeta potential, AFM, water contact angle (WCA), and SEM analyses were used to investigate the morphology of modified membranes. The WCA evaluations indicated that the 0.5 wt% HBPA@cucurbituril membranes showed the best hydrophilicity improvement compared to the bare membrane (decrement from 66.6° to 37.9°). In the best case, the optimally modified membrane (0.5 wt%) indicated the best permeability (8.5 L/m².h.bar), fouling resistance (flux recovery ratio of 92.42 %), dye rejection (Direct Red 16: 98.7 %, Reactive Blue 19: 99.8 %, Crystal Violet: 97.3 % and Methylene Blue: 98.4 %) and heavy metal removal of (As³⁺: 99.7 % and Hg²⁺: 99.2 %). This study offers a clear perspective on the treatment of industrial effluents.