Preparation of polysulfone-based block copolymer ultrafiltration membranes by selective swelling and sacrificing nanofillers

doi:10.1007/s11705-021-2038-x

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

2022, Vol. 16

Issue (5) : 745-754 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2038-x

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Preparation of polysulfone-based block copolymer ultrafiltration membranes by selective swelling and sacrificing nanofillers

Shanshan Zhang¹, Jiemei Zhou¹, Zhaogen Wang¹, Jianzhong Xia^2,³(

), Yong Wang¹(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
². Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
³. Beijing OriginWater Membrane Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 101407, China

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Abstract

Selective swelling of block copolymers of polysulfone-b-poly(ethylene glycol) is an emerging strategy to prepare new types of polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes. Herein, we prepared nanoporous polysulfone-b-poly(ethylene glycol) ultrafiltration membranes by selective swelling and further promoted their porosity and ultrafiltration performances by using CaCO₃ nanoparticles as the sacrificial nanofillers. Different contents of CaCO₃ nanoparticles were doped into the solution of polysulfone-b-poly(ethylene glycol), and thus obtained suspensions were used to prepare both self-supported and bi-layered composite structures. Selective swelling was performed on the obtained block copolymer structures in the solvent pair of ethanol/acetone, producing nanoporous membranes with poly(ethylene glycol) lined along pore walls. The CaCO₃ nanoparticles dispersed in polysulfone-b-poly(ethylene glycol) were subsequently etched away by hydrochloric acid and the spaces initially occupied by CaCO₃ provided extra pores to the block copolymer layers. The porosity of the membranes was increased with increasing CaCO₃ content up to 41%, but further increase in the CaCO₃ content led to partial collapse of the membrane. The sacrificial CaCO₃ particles provided extra pores and enhanced the connectivity between adjacent pores. Consequently, the membranes prepared under optimized conditions exhibited up to 80% increase in water permeance with slight decrease in rejection compared to neat membranes without the use of sacrificial CaCO₃ particles.

Keywords block copolymers selective swelling ultrafiltration CaCO₃ nanoparticles sacrificial nanofillers

Corresponding Author(s): Jianzhong Xia,Yong Wang

Just Accepted Date: 11 March 2021 Online First Date: 13 April 2021 Issue Date: 28 March 2022

Cite this article:

Shanshan Zhang,Jiemei Zhou,Zhaogen Wang, et al. Preparation of polysulfone-based block copolymer ultrafiltration membranes by selective swelling and sacrificing nanofillers[J]. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2022, 16(5): 745-754.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-021-2038-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2022/V16/I5/745

Fig.1 (a) The structure formula of PSF-b-PEG; (b) the scanning electron microscope (SEM) image and particle size distribution of CaCO₃ nanoparticles; (c) the scheme for the preparation of PSF-b-PEG composite membranes by selective swelling and nanofillers etching.

Fig.2 SEM surface images of the self-supported PSF-b-PEG membranes prepared with different CaCO₃ contents after (a-d) swelling and (e-h) etching. The images are in the same magnification, and the scale bar corresponding to 1 mm is given in (a).

Fig.3 (a) Surface and (d) cross-sectional EDX images of the self-supported PSF-b-PEG membrane prepared with 50% CaCO₃ before etching. EDX spectra of the self-supported PSF-b-PEG membrane prepared with 50% CaCO₃: (b and e) before and (c and f) after etching. The images are in the same magnification, and the scale bar corresponding to 500 nm is given in (a).

Fig.4 Mass changes of the self-supported PSF-b-PEG membranes with different CaCO₃ concentrations after etching with hydrochloric acid.

Fig.5 (a) Thicknesses and (b) porosities of the self-supported PSF-b-PEG membranes prepared with different CaCO₃ concentrations.

Fig.6 (a) The photograph and (b) the cross-sectional SEM image of the PSF-b-PEG composite membrane. Permeance and rejection performances of membranes prepared with different CaCO₃ concentrations: (c) pure water permeance; (d) rejection to 10-nm gold nanospheres; (e) BSA rejection. (f) UV-vis absorption spectra of the feed, filtrate and retentate solutions of 10-nm gold nanoparticles through the PSF-b-PEG composite membrane prepared with 41% CaCO₃.

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