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• A novel tailored ion-imprinted polymer for recovery of Li+ and Sr2+ was prepared. • The brine sample showed a higher Li+ and Sr2+ concentration of 43.32 mg/L and 16.93 mg/L, respectively. • Q m was increased as the temperature rise from 714 mg Li+/g at 25 °C to 2500 mg Li+/g at 45 °C. • Li+ desorption results show that 94.03% − 94.71% of the ions were recovered. • The IIP efficiency to adsorb Li+ from brine was 84.68%, and 10% for Sr2+. This study aims to prepare ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) with the benefit of a metal-based sorbent, which is fabricated to selectively adsorb lithium (Li+) from aqueous solutions, and in an attempt to remove strontium (Sr2+). The adsorption processes were carried out at different pH values, initial concentrations, and temperatures, to optimize the experimental conditions, with the use of response surface methodology (RSM). The seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) brine was physically and chemically characterized, and the physicochemical characterization of the prepared IIP before and after adsorption was also performed using different spectroscopic methods. The adsorption capacity for Li+ and Sr2+ from SWRO brine was evaluated, and the reusability of IIP was investigated using adsorption–desorption cycles. The results showed that the IIP was efficient to remove Li+ but not Sr2+, and it follows Freundlich adsorption isotherms models. The analysis revealed a significant concentration of minerals in the brine sample It also revealed a low concentration of trace metals, like Ba (0.16 mg/L), Zn (0.845 mg/L), Fe (1.31 mg/L), Cu (1.165 mg/L), Pb (1.505 mg/L), and V (3.88 mg/L), except Li and Sr which shows a higher concentration of 43.32 mg/L and 16.93 mg/L respectively. pH 10 was selected to be the optimum pH for the adsorption isotherm experiments, as it was the highest efficient pH to adsorb Li+ and Sr2+. The thermodynamics study revealed that the adsorption of Li+ on the IIP favored exothermic conditions. It was noticed that the maximum adsorption capacity (Q m) was increased as the temperature rise from 714.3 mg/g at 25 °C to 2500 mg/g at 45 °C. The Li+ desorption results show that 94.03% − 94.71% of the ions were recovered, while the Sr2+ desorption results show that 96.35% − 96.56% of the ions were recovered. The efficiency of IIP to adsorb lithium and strontium from brine shows that the adsorption removal% of Li+ was between 84.21% and 84.68%, while the adsorption removal% of Sr2+ was between 3.83% and 10%. The cost analysis for IIP preparation was 2 USD/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Positively charged PEI improved deposition and orientation of GO on PSf. • Synergic effects of PEI-modification and GO govern the formation of PA. • A thin but rough PA is formed on the surface of PEI-modified PSf substrate. • PEI-interlayer TFN membrane showed greater water flux without affecting rejection. In this work, the polyethyleneimine (PEI)-interlayered thin film nanocomposite (iTFN) membranes were developed by establishing graphene oxide (GO)-incorporated polyamide (PA) layer atop PEI-coated polysulfone (PSf) substrate for reverse osmosis process. The effects of PEI layer sandwiched between selective layer and substrate were studied by varying several main parameters of the PEI coating process, i.e., PEI concentration (0.005–0.2 wt/v%), drying time (0–120 min), and coating layer number (1–3 layers). The positively charged PEI interlayer was found to alter not only the hydrophilicity and pore structure of the substrate but also improve the orientation and distribution of deposited GO through electrostatic interaction. Synergic effects of GO and PEI, including enhanced substrate surface hydrophilicity and increased amine content, eventually formed a rough but thin PA layer. As a result, almost all iTFN membranes exhibited higher NaCl rejection and water permeability than the control TFN membrane (without PEI intermediate layer). This experiment revealed that PSf substrate modified with a single layer of 0.05 wt/v% PEI followed by 60-min drying yielded the TFN membrane (i.e., iTFN-C0.05-T60-L1) with the best desalination performances (96.66% NaCl rejection and 2.24 L/m2·h·bar). The control TFN membrane meanwhile showed lower performance, i.e., 95.61% NaCl rejection and 1.69 L/m2·h·bar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]