Charge tunable thin-film composite membranes by gamma-ray triggered surface polymerization

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Reis, R; Duke, MC; Tardy, BL; Oldfield, D; Dagastine, RR; Orbell, JD; Dumee, LFDate
2017-06-30Source Title
Scientific ReportsPublisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUPAffiliation
Chemical and Biomolecular EngineeringMetadata
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Journal ArticleCitations
Reis, R., Duke, M. C., Tardy, B. L., Oldfield, D., Dagastine, R. R., Orbell, J. D. & Dumee, L. F. (2017). Charge tunable thin-film composite membranes by gamma-ray triggered surface polymerization. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 7 (1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04900-5.Access Status
Open AccessAbstract
Thin-film composite poly(amide) (PA) membranes have greatly diversified water supplies and food products. However, users would benefit from a control of the electrostatic interactions between the liquid and the net surface charge interface in order to benefit wider application. The ionic selectivity of the 100 nm PA semi-permeable layer is significantly affected by the pH of the solution. In this work, for the first time, a convenient route is presented to configure the surface charge of PA membranes by gamma ray induced surface grafting. This rapid and up-scalable method offers a versatile route for surface grafting by adjusting the irradiation total dose and the monomer concentration. Specifically, thin coatings obtained at low irradiation doses between 1 and 10 kGy and at low monomer concentration of 1 v/v% in methanol/water (1:1) solutions, dramatically altered the net surface charge of the pristine membranes from -25 mV to +45 mV, whilst the isoelectric point of the materials shifted from pH 3 to pH 7. This modification resulted in an improved water flux by over 55%, from 45.9 to up 70 L.m-2.h-1, whilst NaCl rejection was found to drop by only 1% compared to pristine membranes.
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