Surface segregation-intensified physical vapor deposition of TiO2 on polyether sulfone membranes for enhanced antifouling performances
摘要
Coating techniques are efficient routes to modify surface property of composite membranes for enhanced membrane separations. However, it remains challenge to deposit continuous inorganic layers on hollow fiber substrates. This study combines surface segregation with physical vapor deposition (PVD) to construct intensified TiO2 layers on polyether sulfone (PES) hollow fiber substrates. During membrane fabrication, polyethylene-polypropylene glycol (F127) is used as surface segregation agent in casting solution, which enables PES hollow fibers with abundant hydroxy groups, thus improving the compatibility between PES and vaporized TiO2. The obtained PES/F127@TiO2 membranes exhibit tight TiO2 layers with tunable thickness, high mechanical strength, narrowed pore size and enhanced hydrophilicity. Moreover, the optimized PES/F127@TiO2 membranes show competitive antifouling performances in water treatment, with a water permeability up to 97 L·m−2·h−1·bar−1 and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection of ~ 99%. This work is expected to provide a material design idea to deposit functional layers on polymers for fortified performances.
Graphical abstractThis study integrated surface segregation with physical vapor deposition (PVD) to deposit TiO2 layers on polyether sulfone (PES) substrates for enhanced antifouling performances.