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Preparation of an efficient nanofiltration membrane based on blending of polysulfone and polysulfone-g-butylacrylate prepared by ATRP

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Abstract

Polysulfone is one of the most common used polymers for preparation of nanofiltration membranes. These membranes are highly susceptible to fouling problems because of their surface hydrophobic nature. In this paper a new approach for modification of polysulfone to overcome the fouling problems was introduced. The modification was carried out via blending of polysulfone with a modified grafted polysulfone using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) method. The modified grafted polysulfone was synthesized via ATRP grafting of n-butylacrylate from chloromethylated polysulfone. The graft copolymers were characterized by FT-IR, NMR, DSG and TGA techniques. Furthermore, surface morphology and performance of the corresponding membrane were studied in detail using SEM and pure water flux and salt rejection experiments, respectively. The results indicated that the prepared modified polysulfone membranes have high surface hydrophilicity and therefore better fouling resistance and very good water permeability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6455, Tehran, Iran

    Hossein Mahdavi & Mehdi Mahmoudian

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  1. Hossein Mahdavi
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  2. Mehdi Mahmoudian
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Correspondence to Hossein Mahdavi.

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Mahdavi, H., Mahmoudian, M. Preparation of an efficient nanofiltration membrane based on blending of polysulfone and polysulfone-g-butylacrylate prepared by ATRP. J IRAN CHEM SOC 11, 1275–1285 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13738-013-0396-0

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