Preparation and characterization of polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fiber membranes for ultrafiltration

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) grafted polystyrene (PVDF-g-PS) membrane based on in situ polymerization for solvent resistant nanofiltration

A poly(vinylidene fluoride) grafted polystyrene (PVDF-g-PS) membrane was prepared by in situ polymerization methods and applied in solvent resistant nanofiltration (SRNF).

Poly (vinylidene fluoride) / Poly (acrylonitrile)-based Superior Hydrophobic Piezoelectric Solid Derived by Aligned Carbon Nanotube in Electrospinning: Fabrication, the Phase Conversion and Surface Energy

Multifunctional materials have attracted many interests from both fundamental and practical aspects, such as field-effect transistor, electric protection, transducers and biosensor. Here we demonstrated the first superior hydrophobic piezoelectric surface based on the polymer blend of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-polyacrilonitrile (PAN) assisted with functionalized multiwalled nanotubes (MWNTs), by a modified electrospinning method. Typically the β-phase polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was considered as the excellent piezoelectric and pyroelectric materials. However, polar β-phase of PVDF exhibited a natural high hydrophilicity. As a well-known fact, the wettability of the surface is dominated by two major factors: surface composition and surface roughness. The significant conversions derived by the incorporation of MWNTs, from nonpolar α-phase to highly polar β-phase of PVDF, were confirmed by FTIR. Meanwhile, the effects of MWNTs on the improvement of the roughness and the hydrophobicity of polymer blend were evaluated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle (CA). Molar free energy of wetting of the polymer nanocomposite decreases with increasing the wt.% of MWNTs. All molar free energy of wetting of PVDF-PAN/MWNTs were negative, which means the non-wettability of film. The combination of surface roughness and low-surface-energy modification in nanostructured composites leads to high hydrophobicity. Particularly, fabrication of superior hydrophobic surfaces not only has fundamental interest but also various possible functional applications in micro- and nano-materials and devices.

Carbon dioxide stripping through water by porous PVDF/montmorillonite hollow fiber mixed matrix membranes in a membrane contactor

Hydrophobic montmorillonite-filled polyvinylideneflouride hollow fiber mixed matrix membranes were fabricated via wet phase inversion method to meet the requirements of stripping process through membrane contactor at elevated temperatures.

Effect of polymer concentration on the structure and performance of PEI hollow fiber membrane contactor for CO2 stripping

A series of polyetherimide (PEI) hollow fiber membranes with various polymer concentrations (13-16 wt.%) for CO2 stripping process in membrane contactor application was fabricated via wet phase inversion method. The PEI membranes were characterized in terms of liquid entry pressure, contact angle, gas permeation and morphology analysis. CO2 stripping performance was investigated via membrane contactor system in a stainless steel module with aqueous diethanolamine as liquid absorbent. The hollow fiber membranes showed decreasing patterns in gas permeation, contact angle, mean pore size and effective surface porosity with increasing polymer concentration. On the contrary, wetting pressure of PEI membranes has enhanced significantly with polymer concentration. Various polymer concentrations have different effects on the CO2 stripping flux in which membrane with 14 wt.% polymer concentration showed the highest stripping flux of 2.7 × 10(-2)mol/m(2)s. From the performance comparison with other commercial membrane, it is anticipated that the PEI membrane has a good prospect in CO2 stripping via membrane contactor.