Performance enhancement of commercial ultrafiltration polysulfone membranevia in situpolymerization of aniline using copper chloride as a catalyst

BACKGROUND Polyaniline is well known for enhancing hydrophilicity and antifouling properties, which could be beneficial for protein separation processes in membranes. The development of polyaniline in the presence of cupric chloride as an oxidant was a target for better distribution. RESULTS Biofouling-resistant hydrophilic membrane surfaces were developed viain situpolymerization of aniline on a polysulfone membrane surface. Membrane surface modifications were made with various percentages of monomer (0.5, 1 and 2%). All the modified membranes exhibited improved membrane surface properties. The modified membrane (Poly(Sulf-Ani-2)) containing 2% aniline as a monomer in polymerization solution showed the best hydrophilicity, exceptional permeability and better protein rejection ability as well as enhanced anti-biofouling property. CONCLUSIONS In situpolyaniline attachment might be an easy and beneficial technique for the fabrication of hydrophilic membrane surfaces for large-scale industrial applications. The attachment of polyaniline on polysulfone membrane surfaces throughin situpolymerization in the present study proved to be an advanced approach for crafting better membranes with considerable hydrophilicity and fouling control enhancement.

Automated summary

Polyaniline was developed on polysulfone membrane surfaces through in situ polymerization to enhance hydrophilicity and anti-biofouling properties. The modified membrane containing 2% aniline showed the best performance in terms of hydrophilicity, permeability, protein rejection, and anti-biofouling ability. This technique proves to be a promising method for large-scale industrial applications.