Mitigation of HA, BSA and oil/water emulsion fouling of PVDF Ultrafiltration Membranes by SiO2-g-PEGMA nanoparticles

In this work antifouling poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) ultrafiltration membranes were synthesized with direct blending of Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA)-grafted SiO2 (SiO2-g-PEGMA) nanoparticles (NPs) in the casting solution by phase inversion method. Chemical structure of the SiO2-g-PEGMA NPs was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Effect of different wt.% of SiO2-g-PEGMA NPs on the structure and performance of prepared membranes were examined by Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Liquid-liquid displacement porosimetry (LLDP), pure water flux (PWF), hydraulic permeability, solute rejection study, water contact angle, water uptake, porosity and bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption. Modified membranes have higher solute rejection than plain PVDF membrane. Also, modified membrane with 0.5 wt% of SiO2-g-PEGMA NPs showed enhanced porosity, pore density, pore area, PWF and permeability. Water contact angle and amount of adsorbed BSA for the modified membrane with 1 wt.% of SiO2-g-PEGMA NPs were 50.7 degrees and 0.05 mg/cm(2) compared to 68.7 degrees and 0.17 mg/cm(2) respectively, for the plain membrane. Furthermore, antifouling property and rejection performance of modified PVDF membranes were investigated by humic acid (HA), BSA and oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion ultrafiltration experiment. It was observed from ultrafiltration study that the irreversible fouling and total fouling were decreased and achieved high flux recovery ratio for modified membrane.