Improvement of performance of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes using dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatment as a novel surface modification method

Abstract

In this research, surface modification of aromatic polyamide thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was carried out using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment to improve the performance and fouling resistance of prepared RO membranes. First, polyamide TFC RO membranes were synthesized via interfacial polymerization of m‐phenylenediamine and trimesoyl chloride monomers over microporous polysulfone support membrane. Next, the DBD plasma treatment with 15 s, 30 s, 60 s, and 90 s duration was used for surface modification. The surface properties of RO membranes were characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐FTIR), SEM, AFM, and contact angle measurements. The ATR‐FTIR results indicated that DBD plasma treatment caused hydrogen bonding on the surface of RO membranes. Also, the contact angle measurement showed that the hydrophilicity of the membranes was increased due to DBD plasma treatment. The changes in the membranes surface morphology indicated that the surface roughness of the membranes was increased after surface modification. In addition, it was found that the DBD plasma treatment increased the water permeation flux significantly and enhanced sodium chloride (NaCl) salt rejection slightly. Moreover, the filtration of bovine serum albumin revealed that the antifouling properties of the modified membranes had been improved. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:E468–E475, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers