Modification of Nanofiber Support Layer for Thin Film Composite forward Osmosis Membranes via Layer-by-Layer Polyelectrolyte Deposition

Membranes

MyoungJun Park¹  HoKyong Shon¹  RalphRolly Gonzales¹  Leonard Tijing¹  DongSuk Han²  Sherub Phuntsho³ 

[1] Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, University of Technology Sydney, 15 Broadway, Ultimo, New South Wales 2007, Australia;;Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Education City PO Box 23874, Doha, Qatar;

关键词: membrane;    forward osmosis;    nanofiber;    electrospinning;    layered interfacial polymerization;    layer-by-layer;    thin film composite;   

DOI  :  10.3390/membranes8030070

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Electrospun nanofiber-supported thin film composite membranes are among the most promising membranes for seawater desalination via forward osmosis. In this study, a high-performance electrospun polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) nanofiber-supported thin film composite (TFC) membrane was successfully fabricated after molecular layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte deposition. Negatively-charged electrospun polyacrylic acid (PAA) nanofibers were deposited on electrospun PVDF nanofibers to form a support layer consisted of PVDF and PAA nanofibers. This resulted to a more hydrophilic support compared to the plain PVDF nanofiber support. The PVDF-PAA nanofiber support then underwent a layer-by-layer deposition of polyethylenimine (PEI) and PAA to form a polyelectrolyte layer on the nanofiber surface prior to interfacial polymerization, which forms the selective polyamide layer of TFC membranes. The resultant PVDF-LbL TFC membrane exhibited enhanced hydrophilicity and porosity, without sacrificing mechanical strength. As a result, it showed high pure water permeability and low structural parameter values of 4.12 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and 221 µm, respectively, significantly better compared to commercial FO membrane. Layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolyte is therefore a useful and practical modification method for fabrication of high performance nanofiber-supported TFC membrane.

【 授权许可】

Unknown