Polyphenylene Sulfide Membrane Research Articles

Advanced PPS/MOFs composite nanofiltration membranes derived from contra-diffusion synthesis for precise molecular separation

To meet the separation requirements of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) membranes in extremely harsh environments and to enhance the separation performance of PPS membrane material, this study utilizes Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) material with a porous structure to modify the structure of the PPS membranes. Using the Contra-diffusion synthesis method, we successfully created PPS composite membranes that were modified by ZIF-8. At the end of the three-hour reaction time, a continuous and dense layer of ZIF-8 crystals with uniform crystal size and regular crystal shape was produced on the matrix membrane's surface. The permeance to rhodamine B aqueous solution is 42.54 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, and the retention rate is 99.5 %, which has high permeability and retention performance. In the anti-pollution performance test, the composite membrane's flux recovery rate is 72.9 %, which has good anti-pollution performance. After immersion in strong acids, strong alkalis, and a variety of organic solvents, the appearance shows no evident flaws, and the separation performance in strong alkalis and five different types of organic solvents stays steady, demonstrating excellent alkali and solvent resistance. This proves that composite membranes have great potential for application in dye wastewater treatment.

High-Performance Composite Membranes: Embedding Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia in Polyphenylene Sulfide Fabric for Enhanced Alkaline Water Electrolysis Efficiency.

Due to their excellent alkali resistance and chemical stability, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) fabric membranes are widely used in alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) for hydrogen production. However, traditional PPS membranes suffer from poor hydrophilicity, low airtightness, and high area resistance, resulting in high energy consumption and reduced safety in industrial applications. This study addresses the aforementioned issues by coupling 3-(2,3-epoxy propoxy) propyl trimethoxy silane (KH560) via self-condensation to the PPS membrane and blending it with self-synthesized yttrium-stabilized zirconia nanoparticles (YSZNPs). The YSZNPs are loaded onto the modified PPS fiber surface through dip-coating and hot-pressing processes, forming a micro-mechanical interlocking structure that enhances the overall performance of the membrane in practical hydrogen production applications. The findings indicate that the developed composite membrane demonstrate outstanding hydrophilicity, minimal area resistance (0.21 Ω cm2), and elevated bubble point pressure (2.93224bar). Significantly, tests on gas purity indicate that the produced hydrogen and oxygen attain purities of 99.90% and 99.75%, respectively, when evaluated at a current density of 1.5 A cm-2. Moreover, after 500h of electrolysis testing in a simulated industrial environment, minimal decline in membrane performance is observed, highlighting the competitive edge of this composite membrane in the current AWE market.

PPS/TA-PEI/β-FeOOH membranes with powerful photo-Fenton self-cleaning capability for efficient oil–water emulsion separation

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) microporous membranes have garnered extensive research enthusiasm concerning their outstanding permeation performance and separation accuracy in treating oily wastewater. Nevertheless, the inherent hydrophobic chemical structure, along with the noticeable concentration polarization effect, predisposes them to severe membrane contamination during the separation process. Accordingly, it is desirable to design a PPS self-cleaning membrane with superior anti-fouling capability, fast transport, and remarkable flux recovery. This study marks the first combination of PPS membrane materials with the photo-Fenton process. In detail, the polyphenol (tannic acid, TA)-polycation (polyethyleneimine, PEI)-metal ion (Fe3+) double cross-linking coatings were first assembled on the PPS substrate surface. Subsequently, β-FeOOH photocatalysts were synthesized through in-situ mineralization to further strengthen the hydrophilicity of the membranes. The obtained PPS/TA-PEI/β-FeOOH composite membrane achieved exceptional separation of diverse oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. The PPS/TA-PEI/β-FeOOH membranes exhibited in-air superhydrophilic and under-water superoleophobicity, exhibiting under-water oil contact angles greater than 151° for diverse oil agents. The fabricated composite membranes displayed high permeability (a flux of the petroleum ether-in-water (P/W) emulsion reached 3400.5 L m−2h−1 bar−1 driven by a pressure of 0.05 MPa) along with ideal oil rejection (98.6 %). Significantly, the PPS/TA-PEI/β-FeOOH membrane possessed powerful photo-Fenton self-cleaning capability, and its flux recoveries of the contaminated membrane exceeded 90.3 % for varied O/W emulsions after being cleaned by visible light for 10 min. We believe that our research presents a novel approach for the exploitation of PPS-based photo-Fenton self-cleaning membranes, which also exhibit great applicative potential in oily wastewater treatment.

The history, interests and future of polyphenylene sulfide: A bibliometric analysis

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) with unique performance advantages and development potential is widely used in electronics, aerospace, environmental protection, automobile, machinery, textile, chemical, pharmacy, environmental protection and other industries. The researches on PPS material are constantly advancing and improving in both quantity and quality. To clarify the progress and status, and to explore current focus and development trend of PPS at a global level, the bibliometric analysis was used based on Web of Science Core Collection database. 1118 papers were retrieved, and countries or regions, institutions, journals, authors, research areas, author keywords, and highly cited articles were discussed in detail. The results of bibliometric analysis show that China was the dominant country in terms of contributions of paper output, followed by the USA, South Korea, Japan, India, and Germany. Germany and China both were the most active partner which worked with other high productive countries. “Polymer science” was the most attractive research area with 451 papers involved in. “Journal of Applied Polymer Science” was the most comprehensive source of PPS material publications and with the highest h-index. The author keywords “mechanical property”, “behavior”, “composite”, “morphology”, “kinetics”, “friction”, “tribological property” and “crystallization” reflected a high level attention and hot topics for PPS. Based on the results of bibliometric analysis, the research progress and achievements of preparation, performance improvement and application field expansion in recent years were summarized and explained. To achieve more comprehensive performance and to be suitable for more special applications in various fields, the enhancement and toughening of PPS, the modification by blending or alloying with other polymers or other reinforcing materials, the production of PPS ultrafine fiber and PPS membrane were shownas the research emphasis.

In-situ electrostatic self-assembly superhydrophilic UiO-66-NH2@h-PPS membranes for highly efficient oil-water emulsion separation

Highly efficient treatment of oil-water emulsions in severe environments (organic solvents, strong acids) is recognized as a challenging subject. Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is an ideal membrane material with superior thermal stability as well as chemical resistance that is expected to settle this challenge. However, the hydrophobicity of PPS (h-PPS) membrane inherently prevents its efficient treatment of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions. In this study, superhydrophilic modification of PPS substrates was achieved by in situ electrostatic self-assembly of hydrophilic Zr-MOFs to obtain UiO-66-NH2@h-PPS membranes. The introduction of UiO-66-NH2 crystals constructed the micro/nanoscale hierarchical structure for the substrate, which transforms the PPS substrate from a hydrophobic to a superhydrophilic state (water droplets require only 0.6 s to be completely immersed in the membrane). Meanwhile, the UiO-66-NH2@h-PPS membranes gain under-water superhydrophobicity (the under-water oil contact angle exceeds 150° for toluene, hexane, dichloromethane, and carbon tetrachloride, of which toluene reaches 163.1°), thereby improving wettability selectivity and decreasing oil adhesion, permitting the fabricated UiO-66-NH2@h-PPS membranes to effectively separate different types of O/W emulsions. The UiO-66-NH2@h-PPS membranes acquire excellent permeate fluxes (for the surfactant-free toluene-in-water emulsion, it reaches up to 7638.1 L m−2 h−1) and separation accuracy (99.1% oil rejection). Moreover, the UiO-66-NH2@h-PPS membrane exhibited outstanding harsh environment resistance. Interestingly, the combination of UiO-66-NH2 and h-PPS substrate was applicable to degrade the organic compound in water, and the degradation efficiency of the methylene blue achieved 85.7% under visible light within 120 min. In summary, loading Zr-MOFs onto h-PPS substrates provides a novel strategy for the efficient treatment of wastewater under complex conditions with great potential for practical applications.

Highly sustainable polyphenylene sulfide membrane of tailored porous architecture for high-performance lithium-ion battery applications

Mechanically robust and chemically stable polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) membrane of efficient porous architecture as well as high porosity has been prepared from a PPS/SiO2 composite including homogeneous distribution of SiO2 nanoparticles, and its applicability as a separator in lithium-ion battery (LIB) was extensively examined in terms of sustainability of electrochemical behaviors. To improve distribution of SiO2 nanoparticles for the incompatible PPS/SiO2 mixture, prerequisite for the efficient porous architecture, interface modulation by plasma-assisted mechanochemical (MP) treatment has been performed, and the MP-treated PPS/SiO2 composite exhibited perfectly homogeneous distribution of SiO2 nanoparticles, finally resulting in porous PPS membrane including a large number of pores with nearly monodisperse pore diameter after removal of SiO2 phase. Alongside the well-developed porous architecture, the porous PPS membrane also deployed notably improved wetting to electrolyte imparted by the MP-based interface modulation, which gave rise to the complete suppression of disastrous build-up and intrusion of lithium dendrite on a separator as well as the electrochemical performances superior to those of the existing PP separator such as the highly sustainable cyclic charging/discharging behavior. Furthermore, it was notable that the PPS membrane exhibited outstanding mechanical stability especially at high temperature even after a large number of pores were developed inside, which has been generic from the nature of PPS. Conclusively, it could be stated that the porous PPS separator is a promising candidate fulfilling the performance requirements for the high-performance LIB.

Fabrication of polyphenylene sulfide nanofibrous membrane via sacrificial templated-electrospinning for fast gravity-driven water-in-oil emulsion separation

• A new strategy in the study is proposed for preparing PPS membrane. • This process was simple and required fewer organic solvents. • The prepared PPS membrane had good hydrophobicity and chemical stability. • The PPS membrane can efficiently separate surfactant-stabilized water–oil emulsion. Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) has excellent hydrophobicity and stability, making it an ideal material for preparing water-in-oil separation membranes. PPS membranes are mainly fabricated via thermally induced phase separation which requires a certain amount of solvent. The electrospinning technique is relatively simple and requires little solvent, and it has become a research hotspot in recent years. This study proposes a new strategy for preparing a PPS membrane for water-in-oil emulsion separation in harsh environments. Here, we prepared PPS composite nanofiber membranes via electrospinning and sintering technology. The membrane was formed using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the sacrificial template and polyacrylonitrile as the supporting substrate. By studying the effects of the PPS/PVA mass ratio and sintering temperature on the PPS composite nanofiber membrane structure and performance, the optimum PPS membrane was selected for subsequent water-in-oil emulsion separation. The results show that the water contact angle of the PPS membrane was above 150°; the maximum pure oil flux was 1707 L/ (m 2 h) for the surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsion separation under gravity; and the separation efficiency was around 99%. Moreover, the membrane maintained good chemical resistance after immersion in an organic mixed or acid-base solutions for 5 days.

Preparation and properties of polyphenylene sulfide/oxidized-polyphenylene sulfide composite membranes

In recent years, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) membranes have gained immense attention owing to their excellent separation performance. However, a single material is often insufficient in achieving desirable material properties. To this end, combining two or more materials to form composites is an efficient approach. In this study, a polyphenylene sulfide/oxidized polyphenylene sulfide (PPS/O-PPS) composite membrane was prepared through post-modification of a PPS membrane fabricated by thermally induced phase separation in an oxidizing solution consisting of H2O2, CH3COOH, and Amberlyst 15. Next, sulfonal (-SO2-) groups were introduced on the membrane surface by oxidation. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy confirmed the formation of PPS/O-PPS membrane. Compared to the PPS membrane, the composite membrane showed good hydrophilicity, chemical and solvent resistance, superior water flux, and anti-fouling performance. Furthermore, the dye separation performance of the composite membrane was investigated. The composite membrane showed a separation efficiency of more than 94% for methyl blue and Congo red. Therefore, the PPS/O-PPS composite membrane prepared in this study is a promising alternative as it possesses dye rejecting properties and can find practical applications under harsh environmental conditions.

Optimization of structure and properties of polyphenylene sulfide porous membrane by controlling the process of thermally induced phase separation

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) porous membranes were successfully prepared from miscible blends of PPS and polyethersulfone (PES) via thermally induced phase separation followed by subsequent extraction of the PES diluent. The morphologies, crystalline structures, mechanical properties, pore structures and permeate fluxes of the PPS porous membranes obtained from different phase separation processes were characterized and are discussed. During the phase separation in the heating process, PPS and PES mainly underwent liquid–liquid phase separation, and then a nonhomogeneous porous structure with a mean pore size of 100 μm and a honeycomb‐like internal structure formed on the membrane surface. The phase separation of PPS/PES occurring in the cooling process was easier to control and the related pore diameter distribution was more regular. In the process of direct annealing, as the phase separation temperature decreased, the pore size distribution became more homogeneous and the mean diameter of the pores also decreased gradually. When the phase separation temperature decreased to 200 °C, PPS membranes with a network structure and a uniform as well as well‐interconnected porous structure could be obtained. In addition, the maximum permeation flux reached 1718.03 L m–2 h–1 when the phase separation temperature was 230 °C. The most probable pore diameter was 6.665 nm, and the permeate flux of this membrane was 2.00 L m–2 h–1; its tensile strength was 17.07 MPa. Finally, these PPS porous membranes with controllable pore structure as well as size can be widely used in the chemical industry and energy field for liquid purification. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Aramid nanofibers/polyphenylene sulfide nonwoven composite separator fabricated through a facile papermaking method for lithium ion battery

Separator is a vital component in lithium ion battery (LIB) and its property is directly related to cell performance and safety. However, the current widely used polyolefin separator suffers from lower heat resistant and inferior electrolyte wettability. Therefore, more attention has been attracted in the development of high performance separator. In this study, aramid nanofibers (ANFs), poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide), and heat-resistant polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) nonwoven were used to fabricate LIB composite separator by a facile papermaking process, which was abbreviated as ANFs/PPS. It was found that the introduced polar aramid nanofibers in this composite separator significantly regulated the porosity and improved electrolyte wettability, thus being helpful for lithium ion transfer between electrodes, increasing the ionic conductivity and exhibiting better interfacial compatible. These behaviors finally endowed battery with superior rate capability and excellent cycling performance. Moreover, the incorporation of aramid nanofibers in PPS membrane was confirmed to own higher Young's modulus to supply enough anti-deformation ability. In addition, we found the composite separator displayed outstanding thermal stability, flame retardant ability and broader electrochemical window, which would guarantee higher safety during battery operation. Accordingly, ANFs/PPS composite separator will provide a promising potential for application in high power LIB.

Bio-inspired robust superhydrophobic-superoleophilic polyphenylene sulfide membrane for efficient oil/water separation under highly acidic or alkaline conditions.

The separation of water-in-oil emulsions in harsh environment (strong acid/alkali) is a challenging subject. In this study, we prepared a superhydrophobic-superoleophilic polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) membrane by the mixture of hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles, diphenyl ketone (DPK), benzoin (BZ) and PPS via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) technology. This superhydrophobic membrane displayed a lotus leaf-like micro-nano structure, and it could be used for oil/water separation in strong acidic or alkaline environment. The hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles played a key role in the membrane structure evolution and its performance. When SiO2 content was 4 wt%, the pure water contact angle of the prepared superhydrophobic-superoleophilic membrane reached 156.9° and the oil contact angle achieved 0°. The fluxes of water-in-oil emulsions (kerosene, toluene and chloroform) reached 1926, 3150 and 3416 L/(m2·h), respectively. However, the fluxes of their surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions declined to 531, 685 and 724 L/(m2·h), respectively, due to the great stability of surfactant-stabilized emulsions. Most importantly, all the water rejection rates exceeded 99.9% when the PPS membranes modified with 4 wt% hydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles. In addition, the PPS-SiO2 hybrid membranes exhibited excellent self-cleaning antifouling performance, cycling performance and superior acid/alkali resistance.

A Superhydrophilic and Anti-Biofouling Polyphenylene Sulfide Microporous Membrane with Quaternary Ammonium Salts

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) membranes were modified by chloromethylation and quaternary amination reaction to prepare a hydrophilic PPS microporous membrane. The structures of the modified PPS membranes were characterized by the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the modified membranes maintain the same microporous structures as the PPS membrane. The hydrophilicity of the modified membranes was significantly improved compared to that of the PPS membranes, and the water flux of N-methylimidazole modified membranes, triethylamine modified membranes, and both mixture modified membranes achieved 110.475, 168.94, 150.59 L·m−2·h−1, respectively. The quaternary amination of the PPS membranes made much less bovine serum albumin (BSA) pollution accumulation on the top surface of the modified membranes, and there was a significant improvement, to 94%, in the BSA rejection rate. Most importantly, the antibacterial activity of the modified membranes was effectively improved, and the bactericidal rate was elevated to above 80% in comparison with pure PPS membranes, which was attributed to the introduction of quaternary ammonium salts and imidazolium salts in out-surface of the membranes.

Polyphenylene sulfide microfiber membrane with superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity for oil/water separation

To dispose the increasing oil pollution, tremendous effective ways have been proposed to deal with the oil/water mixture. In this study, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) microfiber membrane was firstly employed as the substrate for separation. Polyethylene wax (PEW) powder and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) ultrafine powder were simply and effectively introduced on the PPS membrane by employing one-step spray-coating method. The as-prepared membrane displayed excellent oil affinity and water-repellent behaviors. Significantly, the obtained membrane showed long-term stability under various extreme conditions such as strong acid, alkali, salt solutions and high temperature. Moreover, this membrane could maintain high oil flux (above 3500 L/m2 h) and separation efficiency (above 98%) even after 20 cycles of oil/water separation and isolate a wide range of oil/water mixture effectively. The fabrication of superhydrophobic and superoleophilic PPS microfiber membrane presented here can be easily scaled up on a large scale, which will provide attractive potential in practical oil/water separation.

Preparation, characterization of PPS micro-porous membranes and their excellent performance in vacuum membrane distillation

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) hydrophobic micro-porous flat sheet membranes were fabricated with diphenyl ketone (DPK) and benzoin (BZ) as mixed diluent via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). It was found that the mass ratio of DPK/BZ had a strong influence on the structure and property of PPS membranes. As DPK content increased, the interaction between PPS and diluents reduced linearly and the membrane micro-structures changed from honeycomb, bi-continuous to spherical particle structure via liquid-liquid (L-L) phase separation process. Herein, the prepared PPS micro-porous membranes were used in vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) for the first time, and they showed the strong hydrophobicity and high salt rejection ratio. Especially, the membrane prepared from the mixed diluent of 15 wt% DPK and 85 wt% BZ with the bi-continuous network structure and Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea Chenault leaf-like structure achieved the maximum permeate flux of 22.8 L/m−2 h−1 and the highest salt rejection of 99.99%. Most importantly, the membrane with Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea Chenault leaf-like leaf structure performed excellent long-term stability in corrosive water membrane distillation (MD) experiment (3.5 wt% NaCl and 10 wt% NaOH as feed solution). Those results show the potential application of this novel type of membrane in the treatment of corrosive sewage.

Mussel-inspired modification of PPS membrane to separate and remove the dyes from the wastewater

A novel coating with stable and excellent wettability is architecturally constructed on the surface of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) membrane via co-deposition with polyethyleneimine (PEI) and mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA), which has critical significance for PPS membrane with excellent separation performance and service durability. The modified membrane exhibits the better acid-base resistance property, due to the cross-linking reaction between catechol and amino. The continuous filtration experiment of methyl blue (MLB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) at 180 min shows that PDA/PEI modified membrane has the higher dye rejection (>99.0%) than unmodified membrane because the modified membrane prevents dye molecules from interacting with the sulfur atom in the microporous surface of PPS membrane. After three sequential cycles, the modified membranes still exhibit the high rejection for RhB and good flux recovery ratio (>95%), indicating that the modified membrane has higher anti-fouling property. Most importantly, the modified membrane also exhibits the high rejection of MLB in organic solution filtration process, indicating the modified membrane has good solvent resistance. The high rejection performance of modified PPS membrane is mainly due to the synergistic effect of Donnan exclusion, inter-molecular reaction and size sieving. Therefore, the PDA/PEI modified PPS membrane is not only a new candidate membrane for dye rejection, but also it is expected to be a good organic solvent resistant membrane which can be used under some harsh environmental conditions.

Structure control of polyphenylene sulfide membrane prepared by thermally induced phase separation

AbstractPorous membranes were prepared through thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) of polyphenylene sulfide (PPS)/diphenyl ketone mixtures. The phase diagram of PPS/diphenyl ketone system was drawn by cloud point temperature and dynamic crystallization temperature. SEM images and porosity were used to characterize PPS membrane structures. According to the analysis of phase diagram, three main effecting factors including polymer concentration, cooling rate, and nucleating agent could control the pore structure and pore size for the preparation of symmetry and asymmetry membranes. The experimental results are coincident with the theory prediction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007