Abstract:
Grand challenges for sustainable development—such as new energy resources and safe drinking water supply—have driven membrane research over the past decade and will continue to do so in the years ahead. Within the frontiers of membrane research, several key problems—including the separation of similar ions, micropollutant removal, and desalination—are frequently tackled using nanofiltration (NF) membranes. 

My talk will present recent progress on polyelectrolyte-based NF membranes fabricated via water-based layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly. I will first correct a common misconception—that electrostatic interaction is the main driving force—and show instead that entropic force governs the assembly process. Our newly developed site-diffusion model for LbL assembly kinetics will also be outlined. 

The unique “separation after adsorption” characteristics of LbL nanofiltration membranes will be presented to highlight a potential paradigm shift in how we analyze and design NF membranes for ion and organic separations. I will also demonstrate their stability against acid, oxidation, and salinity, along with scale-up potential through a 100-ton-per-day pilot project. Finally, I will briefly discuss future research directions. 

Bio:
Professor Tao He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Desalination (since 2022) and Executive Editor of Desalination and Water Treatment (since 2024). He received his PhD from the University of Twente in the Netherlands in 2001 and began his membrane career as a senior researcher and process engineer at X-Flow/Norit BV in the Netherlands, later serving as Technical Director at Aquasource/Degremont in France. He is currently a professor at the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and holds a part-time professorship at ShanghaiTech University.

Professor He has secured over 30 research projects and published 170 peer-reviewed papers with an H-index of 56 (Google Scholar). He is a recipient of the Newton Advanced Fellowship (Royal Society) and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow. His current research focuses on novel membrane materials and processes for resource recovery, micropollutant removal, and sustainable energy applications, with particular interests in understanding the correlation between polymer chain aggregation and pore formation to guide the design of nanofiltration, adsorption, and sharp-cutoff membranes.

Web profile: https://people.ucas.edu.cn/~het