Amphoteric polyelectrolyte ultrafiltration membranes with high permeability property via in-situ modified by PES-N and PES-COOH

Abstract

Ultrafiltration membrane is one of the most commonly used separation materials for wastewater treatment, due to its low operating pressure, high flux and large specific surface area. In this work, we utilized PES polymer as a polymer precursor to prepare a series of amphoteric polyelectrolyte membrane with different content of amphoteric polyelectrolyte group via simple polymer blending processes. The amphoteric polyelectrolyte groups in amphoteric polyelectrolyte membrane could effectively regulate the retention ability and significantly improve the water flux of membrane. The amphoteric polyelectrolyte membrane with the content ratio of 4:6 (PES-N/PES-COOH) exhibited the highest water flux of 467 Lm−2 h−1 and BSA retention factor of 94.2% than that of other ultrafiltration membranes owning to the abundant porosity and suitable thickness of the top layer. Moreover, the results of static BSA adsorption and flux recovery ratio also proved that the amphoteric polyelectrolyte membrane have a good BSA rejection and antifouling performance. Therefore, these results reveal a simple synthesis and design strategy for constructing the high-performance amphoteric polyelectrolyte membrane for water treatment and provide theoretical and technical guidance for water treatment process based on membrane technology.