Journal
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
Volume 599, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2020.117819
Keywords
Omniphobic; Dual-scale roughness; Membrane distillation; Anti-fouling mechanism; Slippery
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21978315, 21676290, 51861145313]
- Newton Advanced Fellowship [NA170113]
- RFBR [18-58-80031]
- DST (India) [IPN/7864]
- NRT (South Africa) [116020]
- [CNPq/BRICS-STI-2-442229/2017-8]
- EPSRC [EP/J009121/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Recent development of omniphobic membranes shows promise in scaling/fouling mitigation in membrane distillation (MD), however, the fundamental understanding is still under dispute. In this paper, we report a novel omniphobic micropillared membrane coated by silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) (SiNPs-MP-PVDF) with dual-scale roughness prepared by a micromolding phase separation (mu PS) and electrostatic attraction. This membrane was used as a model for analysis of scaling behavior by calcium sulfate (CaSO4) scaling and fouling behavior by protein casein in comparison with commercial (C-PVDF) and micropillared (MP-PVDF) membranes. Unprecedented scaling/fouling resistance to CaSO4 and casein was observed in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) for SiNPs-MP-PVDF membrane. Similar scaling and fouling occurred for commercial PVDF and micropillared PVDF membranes. The observation corresponds well to the wetting state of all membranes as SiNPs-MP-PVDF shows suspended wetting, but MP-PVDF shows pinned wetting. From a hydrodynamic view, the suspended wetting attributes a slippery surface which reduces the direct contact of foulants to solid membrane part and leads to significantly reduced fouling and scaling. However, a pinned (or metastable) wetting state leads to a stagnant interfacial layer that is prone to severe fouling and scaling. This work highlights that both scaling and fouling resistance are indeed of suspended wetting state and slippage origin.
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