Improved permeability and antifouling properties of polyvinyl chloride ultrafiltration membrane via blending sulfonated polysulfone

Yan-Xin Xie; Kai-Kai Wang; Wen-Han Yu; Meng-Bing Cui; Yu-Jie Shen; Xiao-Yu Wang; Li-Feng Fang; Bao-Ku Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.06.097

Improved permeability and antifouling properties of polyvinyl chloride ultrafiltration membrane via blending sulfonated polysulfone

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Nov 1:579:562-572. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.06.097. Epub 2020 Jun 27.

Authors

Yan-Xin Xie¹, Kai-Kai Wang², Wen-Han Yu³, Meng-Bing Cui², Yu-Jie Shen³, Xiao-Yu Wang², Li-Feng Fang⁴, Bao-Ku Zhu⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, China; Henan Photoelectrocatalytic Material and Micro-Nano Application Technology Academician Workstation, Xinxiang 450003, Henan, China. Electronic address: xieyx@xxu.edu.cn.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, China.
³ Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, ERC of Membrane and Water Treatment (MOE), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang, China.
⁴ Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, ERC of Membrane and Water Treatment (MOE), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang, China. Electronic address: fanglf@zju.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, China; Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, ERC of Membrane and Water Treatment (MOE), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, Zhejiang, China.

PMID: 32623122
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.06.097

Abstract

To improve the permeability and antifouling properties of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane, amphiphilic sulfonated polysulfone (SPSF) was introduced into PVC matrix. Three types of PVC/SPSF blend membranes containing different SPSF with the sulfonation degree (SD) of 20%, 30%, and 50% were fabricated by non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. The excellent compatibility between PVC and SPSF was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Surface chemical compositions, morphology, roughness, charge, hydrophilicity, permeability and antifouling properties of the pristine PVC membrane and the PVC/SPSF blend membranes were systematically compared and characterized. Due to the improved hydrophilicity and endowed negative charge, the blend membrane showed high water permeability (i.e. 880 L m^-2h^-1 bar^-1), high bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection (i.e. 95.7%), and high flux recovery ratio (i.e. 96%), which outperformed ever reported and commercialized PVC membranes. Furthermore, the permeability and rejection properties of PVC/SPSF UF membranes were maintained after soaking in acidic and alkaline solutions for 30 days, indicating their outstanding acid and alkali tolerance. Therefore, SPSF was expected as a potential versatile modifier for fabricating high performance UF membranes.

Keywords: Antifouling; Polyvinyl chloride; Sulfonated polysulfone; Ultrafiltration membrane.