Spray coating of polysulfone/poly(ethylene glycol) block polymer on macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling for composite ultrafiltration membranes

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2020.05.002

中国化学工程学报 ›› 2021, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (1): 85-91.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2020.05.002

• Separation Science and Engineering • 上一篇下一篇

Spray coating of polysulfone/poly(ethylene glycol) block polymer on macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling for composite ultrafiltration membranes

Dongwei Ma¹, Zhaogen Wang¹, Tao Liu², Yunxia Hu², Yong Wang¹

1 State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China;
2 State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China

收稿日期:2020-03-12 修回日期:2020-04-12 出版日期:2021-01-28 发布日期:2021-04-02
通讯作者: Yong Wang
基金资助:
Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21706119) and the Program of Excellent Innovation Teams of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Project of Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD) is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank the partial support by the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Process (M1-201702).

Spray coating of polysulfone/poly(ethylene glycol) block polymer on macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling for composite ultrafiltration membranes

Dongwei Ma¹, Zhaogen Wang¹, Tao Liu², Yunxia Hu², Yong Wang¹

1 State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China;
2 State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China

Received:2020-03-12 Revised:2020-04-12 Online:2021-01-28 Published:2021-04-02
Contact: Yong Wang
Supported by:
Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21706119) and the Program of Excellent Innovation Teams of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Project of Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD) is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank the partial support by the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Process (M1-201702).

摘要/Abstract

摘要： Polysulfone (PSF) is extensively used for the production of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes thanks to its high strength, chemical stability, and good processibility. However, PSF is intrinsically hydrophobic, and hydrophilic modification is always required to PSF-based membranes if they are intended to be used in aqueous systems. Facile strategies to prepare hydrophilic PSF membranes are thus highly demanded. Herein we spray coat a PSF-based amphiphilic block polymer onto macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling to prepare flat-sheet PSF UF membranes. The polymer is a triblock polymer containing PSF as the majority middle block tethered with shorter block of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on both ends, that is, PEG-b-PSF-b-PEG. We use the technique of spray coating to homogeneously dispense diluted triblock polymer solutions on the top of macroporous supports, instantly resulting in uniform, defect-free polymer coating layers with the thickness down to ~1.2 μm. The bi-layered composite structures are then immerged in ethanol/acetone mixture to generate mesoscale pores in the coating layers following the mechanism of selective swelling-induced pore generation, thus producing composite membranes with the mesoporous triblock polymer coating as the selective layers. This facile strategy is free from additional hydrophilic modification and much smaller dosages of polymers are used compared to conventional casting methods. The pore sizes, porosities, hydrophilicity, and consequently the separation properties of the membranes can be flexibly tuned by changing the swelling duration and the composition of the swelling bath. This strategy combining spray coating and selective swelling is upscalable for the production of high-performance PSF UF membranes.

关键词: Spray coating, Polysulfone, Block copolymers, Selective swelling, Ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract: Polysulfone (PSF) is extensively used for the production of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes thanks to its high strength, chemical stability, and good processibility. However, PSF is intrinsically hydrophobic, and hydrophilic modification is always required to PSF-based membranes if they are intended to be used in aqueous systems. Facile strategies to prepare hydrophilic PSF membranes are thus highly demanded. Herein we spray coat a PSF-based amphiphilic block polymer onto macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling to prepare flat-sheet PSF UF membranes. The polymer is a triblock polymer containing PSF as the majority middle block tethered with shorter block of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on both ends, that is, PEG-b-PSF-b-PEG. We use the technique of spray coating to homogeneously dispense diluted triblock polymer solutions on the top of macroporous supports, instantly resulting in uniform, defect-free polymer coating layers with the thickness down to ~1.2 μm. The bi-layered composite structures are then immerged in ethanol/acetone mixture to generate mesoscale pores in the coating layers following the mechanism of selective swelling-induced pore generation, thus producing composite membranes with the mesoporous triblock polymer coating as the selective layers. This facile strategy is free from additional hydrophilic modification and much smaller dosages of polymers are used compared to conventional casting methods. The pore sizes, porosities, hydrophilicity, and consequently the separation properties of the membranes can be flexibly tuned by changing the swelling duration and the composition of the swelling bath. This strategy combining spray coating and selective swelling is upscalable for the production of high-performance PSF UF membranes.

Key words: Spray coating, Polysulfone, Block copolymers, Selective swelling, Ultrafiltration membranes

Dongwei Ma, Zhaogen Wang, Tao Liu, Yunxia Hu, Yong Wang. Spray coating of polysulfone/poly(ethylene glycol) block polymer on macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling for composite ultrafiltration membranes[J]. 中国化学工程学报, 2021, 29(1): 85-91.

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Spray coating of polysulfone/poly(ethylene glycol) block polymer on macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling for composite ultrafiltration membranes

Spray coating of polysulfone/poly(ethylene glycol) block polymer on macroporous substrates followed by selective swelling for composite ultrafiltration membranes

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