Abstract
Herein, the hydrophobicity of SiO2 nanoparticles was increased via modification with low-surface-energy alkyltriethoxysilanes. The thus-treated particles were co-dispersed with polypropylene (PP) particles and cyclohexanone to prepare a homogeneous coating solution that was applied to PP hollow fiber membrane surfaces by phase inversion-based dip coating. This modification significantly improved the dispersibility of SiO2 particles and reduced their surface energy; the membrane based on n-octyltriethoxysilane (OTES)-modified SiO2 was superhydrophobic and exhibited water contact angles up to 153°. The vacuum membrane distillation performance of the OTES-PP membrane was compared to that of the original PP membrane and the permeation flux of the former reached 1.95 kg m−2 h−1. Moreover, compared with the original PP membrane, the conductivity of the OTES-PP permeate remained stable at ~2.62 μS cm−1 during operation for 30 h, and the corresponding rejection efficiency was as high as 99.99%. Thus, the developed superhydrophobic membrane is well-suited for diverse potential applications such as seawater desalination.
Published Version
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