Abstract
Membrane technology has emerged as an attractive approach for water purification, while mitigation of fouling is key to lower membrane operating costs. This article reviews various materials with antifouling properties that can be coated or grafted onto the membrane surface to improve the antifouling properties of the membranes and thus, retain high water permeance. These materials can be separated into three categories, hydrophilic materials, such as poly(ethylene glycol), polydopamine and zwitterions, hydrophobic materials, such as fluoropolymers, and amphiphilic materials. The states of water in these materials and the mechanisms for the antifouling properties are discussed. The corresponding approaches to coat or graft these materials on the membrane surface are reviewed, and the materials with promising performance are highlighted.
Highlights
In the second the second model, PDA is formed through the non-covalent bonds, such as charge transfer, π-stacking, and hydrogen bonding between monomers, which are evidenced by solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy [36,37]
Hydrogen atoms linked to the carbocyclic core confirm the non-covalent linkages between monomers, which was observed for other materials with similar molecular architectures, such as quinhydrones, model, PDA is formed through the non-covalent bonds, such as charge transfer, π-stacking, and hydrogen bonding between monomers, which are evidenced by solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction and Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy [36,37]
poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA) and poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (PCBMA) were grafted from glass using an initiator of 2-bromo-2-methyl-N-3-[(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]propanamide (BrTMOS) and the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method, and the modified glass demonstrated less adsorption of protein and mammalian cells than the unmodified one [75]; 3-dimethyl ammonium propane sulfonate (DMAPS) was grafted from cellulose membranes using reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT) polymerization, and the modification decreased the adhesion of Escherichia coli and HeLa cell [76]
Summary
Wastewater reuse and seawater desalination are some of the key solutions in meeting the increasing demand for clean water. As an energy-efficient and low-cost technology, polymeric membranes permeate pure water and reject contaminants ranging from bacteria in microns to ions in angstroms [1,2,3,4,5]. Microfiltration (MF) membranes with pore sizes of 1–100 μm can remove microbes, cells and bacteria [1,3]; ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with pore sizes of 1–100 nm can remove small contaminants, such as proteins and viruses [3,6]; nanofiltration (NF) membranes having pore sizes of a few angstroms can remove divalent ions (e.g., Ca2+ , Mg2+ , Fe2+ ) and small molecules with a molecular weight of 200–1000 Da [3]; and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes with a dense selective layer that can desalinate brackish water and seawater [4,5,7]. The core of membrane technology is high performance membranes with high water permeance and high selectivity in a practical environment [1,2,3,4,5]
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