Preparation and Characterization of Membranes Formed by Nonsolvent Induced Phase Separation: A Review

Preparation of antifouling polyetherimide/hydrolysed PIAM blend nanofiltration membranes for salt rejection applications

Polyetherimide/hydrolysed PIAM blend NF membranes have been prepared and characterized. The PEI/hydrolysed PIAM composition of 80 : 20 showed very good salt rejection (sodium sulphate) up to 76% with a pure water flux of 11.8 L m⁻² h⁻¹. This study provides a simple and effective approach to produce negatively charged NF membranes for water desalination applications with low energy consumption.

Asymmetric organic-inorganic hybrid membrane formation via block copolymer-nanoparticle co-assembly

A facile method for forming asymmetric organic-inorganic hybrid membranes for selective separation applications is developed. This approach combines co-assembly of block copolymer (BCP) and inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) with non-solvent induced phase separation. The method is successfully applied to two distinct molar mass BCPs with different fractions of titanium dioxide (TiO2) NPs. The resulting hybrid membranes exhibit structural asymmetry with a thin nanoporous surface layer on top of a macroporous fingerlike support layer. Key parameters that dictate membrane surface morphology include the fraction of inorganics used and the length of time allowed for surface layer development. The resulting membranes exhibit both good selectivity and high permeability (3200 ± 500 Lm(-2) h(-1) bar(-1)). This fast and straightforward synthesis method for asymmetric hybrid membranes provides a new self-assembly platform upon which multifunctional and high-performance organic-inorganic hybrid membranes can be formed.

Surface-functionalizable membranes of polycaprolactone-click-hyperbranched polyglycerol copolymers from combined atom transfer radical polymerization, ring-opening polymerization and click chemistry

Hyperbranched polyglycerols containing terminal alkyne and alkyl bromide groups (CH[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-HPG-Br) were first synthesized via propargyl alcohol-initiated ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of glycidol, followed by reaction of 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide (BIBB) with the hydroxyl groups to introduce the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiators on HPG. Hydrophobic azido-terminated poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL-N₃), prepared a priori via 2-azidoethanol-initiated ROP of ε-caprolactone, was then coupled to the CH[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-HPG-Br polymer through a Cu(i)-catalyzed alkyne-azide click reaction. The resultant linear-hyperbranched PCL-click-HPG copolymers were cast by phase inversion in an aqueous medium into microporous membranes of well-defined and uniform pores. Not only could the HPG contents in the PCL-click-HPG copolymers be used to control the pore size and porosity of the resulting membranes, but also the alkyl halide chain-ends of HPG allowed the subsequent functionalization of membrane and pore surfaces. The PCL-click-HPG-b-PMPC membrane was prepared via surface-initiated ATRP of zwitterionic 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) from the PCL-click-HPG membrane and pore surfaces. The PCL-click-HPG-b-PMPC membranes exhibit good antifouling and antibacterial adhesion properties with negligible cytotoxicity effects, making the membranes potentially useful for biomaterials and biomedical applications.

Effects of Water as Non-Solvent Additive on Performance of Polysulfone Ultrafiltration Membrane

In this work, polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes were prepared via simple phase inversion with distilled water as non-solvent additive. The main reason for the addition of water in polysulfone dope solution preparation was to enhance the membranes structure. In the dope, 15 wt. % of polysulfone was used and water was varied up to 6 wt. %. The effects of water on morphology, porosity and tensile properties were investigated in detail. From the porosity test, results showed that the addition of water has improved membrane porosity up to 53 %. The FESEM images revealed that membrane morphology has also been modified. However, the tensile properties of membrane decreased as water content increased which may be due to the porosity interaction between polysulfone/NMP with water.