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Preparation and characterization of antifouling poly(vinylidene fluoride) blended membranes
Author(s) -
Choi Hyoungwoo,
Kwon Youngnam,
Jung Yongdoo,
Hong Sungpyo,
Tak Taemoon
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.33846
Subject(s) - membrane , phase inversion , ultrafiltration (renal) , biofouling , microfiltration , polymer chemistry , copolymer , atom transfer radical polymerization , materials science , fouling , chemical engineering , ethylene glycol , methacrylate , chemistry , chromatography , polymer , composite material , biochemistry , engineering
Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes have been widely used in microfiltration and ultrafiltration because of their excellent chemical resistance and thermal properties. However, PVDF membranes have exhibited severe membrane fouling because of their hydrophobic properties. In this study, we investigated the antifouling properties of PVDF blended membranes. Antifouling PVDF blended membranes were prepared with a PVDF‐ g ‐poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (POEM) graft copolymer. The PVDF‐ g ‐POEM graft copolymer was synthesized by the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. The chemical structure and properties of the synthesized PVDF‐ g ‐POEM graft copolymer were determined by NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. To investigate the antifouling properties of the membranes, we prepared microfiltration membranes by using the phase‐inversion method, which uses various PVDF/PVDF‐ g ‐POEM concentrations in dope solutions. The pure water permeabilities were obtained at various pressures. The PVDF/PVDF‐ g ‐POEM blended membranes exhibited no irreversible fouling in the dead‐end filtration of foulants, including bovine serum albumin, sodium alginate, and Escherichia coli broth. However, the hydrophobic PVDF membrane exhibited severe fouling in comparison with the PVDF/PVDF‐ g ‐POEM blended membranes. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011