Contemporary antibiofouling modifications of reverse osmosis membranes: State-of-the-art insights on mechanisms and strategies

Abstract The Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology is a promising technology for wastewater treatment and seawater or brackish water desalination. However, membrane biofouling caused by nonspecific interactions between a membrane surface and microorganisms is a major obstacle to the widespread application of this technology, usually reducing production capacity and increasing operating and maintenance costs. This article reviews recent highlights in the construction of antibiofouling membranes, emphasizing the scale inhibition mechanism and modification strategy. Influencing factors contributing to the biofouling of RO membranes, including the characteristics of microorganisms, membrane surface characteristics, and operating conditions, were introduced, and methods for controlling biofouling were summarized. Meanwhile, the current research status of antibiofouling membranes and efforts for mitigating membrane biofouling were reviewed. Nanomaterials have unique properties that improve the antibiofouling capability of RO membranes according to the current literature. Specific challenges and future research focus were discussed, namely, the urgent need to develop novel, high-performance, and antibacterial membrane materials based on the in-depth study of microbial scale inhibition mechanisms. Thus, this review can provide some guidance for researchers and a valuable reference for the development of antibacterial membranes in the future.