Premium
Grafting of polyaniline by a dynamic inverse emulsion polymerization technique onto reverse osmosis membranes as an antibiofouling agent
Author(s) -
Suckeveriene Ran Y.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.4608
Subject(s) - polyaniline , membrane , materials science , polymerization , chemical engineering , interfacial polymerization , grafting , polymer chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , emulsion polymerization , reverse osmosis , composite material , polymer , monomer , chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
This study reports on the benefits of an in situ interfacial dynamic inverse emulsion polymerization process under sonication of aniline in the presence of a commercial reverse osmosis (RO) membrane. This polymerization method is simple and much faster (5‐15 min) than systems reported in the literature. During polymerization, the membranes are coated with polyaniline (PANI) as verified by high‐resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) images and Fourier‐transform‐infrared (FTIR) measurements. A colony‐counting antimicrobial activity test showed that whereas the reference RO membrane developed a large bacterial colony, the polyaniline‐coated RO membrane had no colonies at all. Surface resistivity was the lowest when the pH levels were below 6, which corresponded to the polyaniline‐grafted conductive layer. The membrane flow properties were only modified slightly as a result of the polyaniline grafting, compared with a pristine reference membrane.