TY - JOUR
T1 - Low-cost antifouling PVC ultrafiltration membrane fabrication with Pluronic F 127
T2 - Effect of additives on properties and performance
AU - Liu, Baicang
AU - Chen, Chen
AU - Zhang, Wen
AU - Crittenden, John
AU - Chen, Yongsheng
N1 - Funding Information:
The work was supported by the Litree Water Purification Company , the George Research Alliance , the Hightower Chair , and the Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems . We thank Kathryn Jonell for her assistance on editing this article, Kungang Li for his help with AFM operations, Ryan Ravenelle for his help on the equipment setup, Eric Woods for his kind help with liquid nitrogen transfer and SEM training, and Walter Henderson for Thermo K-Alpha XPS training.
PY - 2012/12/3
Y1 - 2012/12/3
N2 - To fabricate low-cost hydrophilic and antifouling ultrafiltration membranes, in this work, we tuned the membrane surface hydrophilicity and porosity by adding different amounts of the amphiphilic copolymer (Pluronic F 127) into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) casting solution. The modified PVC membrane characteristics including oxygen content, morphology and pore size, surface roughness, hydrophilicity, and permeability were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle measurement, and flux measurements. With the increase of Pluronic F 127 content from 0 to 10. wt.%, the oxygen content on the membrane surface increased and then reached an asymptote when 8. wt.% or greater Pluronic F 127 was used; the pore size and the pore density both decreased; the membrane surface became more hydrophilic as indicated by the decreasing contact angles; and the flux declined by 30% when Pluronic F 127 reached 10. wt.%. Overall, the modified PVC membrane exhibited excellent antifouling feature even with Pluronic F 127 as low as 2. wt.%. Due to the membrane flux decline at 10. wt.% Pluronic F 127, the optimal addition of Pluronic F 127 was 8. wt.%, which maintained the antifouling feature and high flux.
AB - To fabricate low-cost hydrophilic and antifouling ultrafiltration membranes, in this work, we tuned the membrane surface hydrophilicity and porosity by adding different amounts of the amphiphilic copolymer (Pluronic F 127) into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) casting solution. The modified PVC membrane characteristics including oxygen content, morphology and pore size, surface roughness, hydrophilicity, and permeability were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle measurement, and flux measurements. With the increase of Pluronic F 127 content from 0 to 10. wt.%, the oxygen content on the membrane surface increased and then reached an asymptote when 8. wt.% or greater Pluronic F 127 was used; the pore size and the pore density both decreased; the membrane surface became more hydrophilic as indicated by the decreasing contact angles; and the flux declined by 30% when Pluronic F 127 reached 10. wt.%. Overall, the modified PVC membrane exhibited excellent antifouling feature even with Pluronic F 127 as low as 2. wt.%. Due to the membrane flux decline at 10. wt.% Pluronic F 127, the optimal addition of Pluronic F 127 was 8. wt.%, which maintained the antifouling feature and high flux.
KW - Antifouling
KW - Hydrophilicity
KW - Pluronic F 127
KW - Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
KW - Ultrafiltration membrane
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U2 - 10.1016/j.desal.2012.07.036
DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2012.07.036
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84867133467
SN - 0011-9164
VL - 307
SP - 26
EP - 33
JO - Desalination
JF - Desalination
ER -