Structure Morphology of Polyethersulfone Hollow Fiber Membrane via Immersion Precipitation Phase Inversion Process

Abstract

Polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber membranes have been widely used in many fields, such as ultrafiltration, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, liquid/liquid or liquid/solid separation, gas separation, hemodialysis, and so on. In this paper, the sheet PES hollow fiber membranes were prepared. The morphology and performance of membranes can be controlled. By studying the influence of the compositions and conditions on the morphology and performance of PES hollow fiber membrane, the relationship of morphology and performance of the membrane is acquired. The additives were used such as glycerol, BuOH and PEG. In addition, immerse phase inversion was used as membranes preparation method. The morphology of the membrane was controlled by changing kinds of additive, concentration of additive and so on. It was found that the membrane morphologies were changed by additive obviously. Porosity , pure water flux, scanning electron microscopy(SEM) were used to characterize the morphology and performance of the membranes.