Research Information System
MICROPOROUS AND MESOPOROUS MATERIALS, vol.246, pp.24-36, 2017 (SCI-Expanded)
Polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membrane with enhanced simultaneous permeability and fouling-resistance property was prepared using a new synthesized aromatic polyamide (PA-6) as an additive. A series of asymmetric membranes were prepared by adding different amounts of PA-6 to the casting solution using the phase inversion induced by immersion precipitation method. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectra (ATR-FTIR) and water contact angle measurement confirmed the PA-6 enrichment at the membrane surface and increased the membrane hydrophilicity and wettability. The SEM images elucidated the effect of PA-6 addition on the PES membrane morphology by increasing the pore density. The results of filtration performance, which carried out by dead-end filtration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution showed that the permeability and fouling resistance property was improved by optimizing the PA-6 content. When the PA-6 content was 2 wt%, the permeability reached approximately 10 times over the pure PES membrane. In comparison to the blend membrane of PES and 2 wt% of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), the blend membrane of 2 wt% of PA-6 showed significant flux recovery ability. The rejection of all the blended membranes was approximately at high point over 95%. In addition, the results were compared with those obtained using PVP as a usual additive. Although the PVP blended membranes exhibited higher permeability, they showed lower antifouling properties. Finally, a membrane with 1 wt% PVP and 1 wt% PA-6 was prepared and showed the best performance regarding improved permeability and antifouling properties. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.