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Improved hydrophilicity and antifouling performances of PVDF ultrafiltration membrane via in situ cross-linking

  • Polymers & biopolymers
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Abstract

A novel polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) cross-linked polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) (PVA-β-CD/PVDF) ultrafiltration membrane was prepared via in situ cross-linking in combination with non-solvent induced phase separation. Compared with PVDF/PVA blending membrane, cross-linking solved the issue of interface pores on the membrane surface caused by poor compatibility. And obvious cross-linking polymers were observed inside the membrane, which introduced more hydrophilic hydroxyl groups and thus enhanced the overall hydrophilicity of the membrane. When the PVA/β-CD ratio was 1:2, the cross-linked membrane exhibited better hydrophilicity, the dynamic water contact angle decreased from 74.6° to less than 2.5° in 65s, and the maximum pure water flux of 4561.5 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 (about 11 times that of PVDF membrane), BSA rejection ratio of 96.7% and a flux recovery rate of 93.5% were obtained. The mean pore size was 0.064 μm, and porosity was 78.44%. It could be concluded that in situ cross-linking simultaneously improved the penetration, separation and antifouling performances of the modified membranes. Our work provides some insights into fabricating high permeable and antifouling PVDF ultrafiltration membranes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Guizhou Provincial Key Technology R&D Program ([2022] common 057, [2022] common 211) and Guizhou Provincial Basic Research Program (Natural Science) (ZK [2022] common 219).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guizhou Institute of Materials Industry and Technology, Guiyang, 550014, China

    Lulu Ren, Rong Deng, Jingkui Yang, Jian Li, Jinbo Jin & Ting Lei

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  1. Lulu Ren
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  2. Rong Deng
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  3. Jingkui Yang
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  4. Jian Li
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  5. Jinbo Jin
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Contributions

LR contributed to the methodology, investigation, formal analysis, writing—original draft. RD was involved in the investigation. JY assisted in the writing—review and editing. JL performed the investigation (supporting). JJ contributed to the methodology (supporting). TL contributed to the investigation (supporting).

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Correspondence to Jingkui Yang.

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Ren, L., Deng, R., Yang, J. et al. Improved hydrophilicity and antifouling performances of PVDF ultrafiltration membrane via in situ cross-linking. J Mater Sci 58, 13854–13864 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08879-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08879-5

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