Functionalization of organic membranes by polyelectrolyte multilayer assemblies: application to the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions

C Magnenet; S Lakard; C C Buron; B Lakard

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2012.03.005

Functionalization of organic membranes by polyelectrolyte multilayer assemblies: application to the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2012 Jun 15;376(1):202-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2012.03.005. Epub 2012 Mar 10.

Authors

C Magnenet¹, S Lakard, C C Buron, B Lakard

Affiliation

¹ Université de Franche-Comté, Institut UTINAM-UMR, CNRS 6213, 16 Route de Gray, 25030 Besançon cedex, France.

PMID: 22456274
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2012.03.005

Abstract

The functionalization of an organic polyethersulfone membrane (PES) was performed by alternating deposition of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and poly(sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) (PSS), leading to the formation of a polyelectrolyte multilayer film (PEM). The resulting assembly was characterized by tangential streaming potential measurements to determine the charge of the modified membranes as a function of the polyelectrolyte solution concentration and as a function of the immersion time of the membrane in the polyelectrolyte solutions. Then, the modified membranes were used to perform the ultrafiltration of aqueous solutions containing copper(II) ions. Different operating conditions were tested including: polyelectrolyte concentration, polyelectrolyte nature, thickness of the PEM film or pH of the Cu(2+) solutions. These filtration experiments demonstrated that it was possible to obtain a satisfactory retention of the copper ions (88%), thus proving that this type of assembly can be useful for the removal of copper ions from contaminated aqueous solutions.