Abstract
Commercial hydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes are vulnerable to membrane fouling and pore wetting, hampering the use of membrane distillation (MD) for the treatment of surfactant- and oil-containing feed streams. To address these challenges, we designed novel Janus membranes with multilevel roughness to mitigate foulant adhesion and prevent pore wetting. Specifically, fouling- and wetting-resistant Janus MD membranes with hierarchically structured surfaces were tailored via a facile technique that involved oxidant-induced dopamine polymerization followed by in situ immobilization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on commercial PVDF hollow fiber substrates. These membranes demonstrated outstanding antifouling properties and salt rejection performances in comparison to membranes with single-level structures. We ascribed the membranes' excellent performances to the coupled effects of improved surface hydrophilicity and self-healing mechanism brought about by AgNPs. Furthermore, the newly engineered membranes exhibited antibacterial properties in Bacillus acidicola solutions as evidenced by clear inhibition zones observed on a confocal laser scanning microscope. The development of hierarchically structured Janus MD membranes with multilevel roughness paves a way to mitigate membrane fouling and pore wetting caused by low-surface-tension feed streams in the MD process.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
