Influence of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene additives on the poly(ether sulfone) ultra-filtration membranes

Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) was blended into a poly(ether sulfone) (PES) casting solution used to prepare ultra-filtration (UF) membranes via the phase inversion technique. The membranes were then characterized by contact angle (CA) measurements and UF experiments. The CA was increased with the addition of HTPB in the PES membrane and also by lowering the gelation bath temperature. It was observed that the CA was lower for membranes prepared with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) as the solvent than those using N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) as solvent. The dux values were higher for membranes made using a 4 degrees C gelation bath when compared with the ambient temperature ((25 +/- 1)degrees C) irrespective of the cast solvents, NMP or DMAc. The flux values were much higher and the solute separations were lower for the HTPB-based PES membranes than for the pure PES membrane, when the membranes were cast with DMAc as a solvent. On the other hand, both flux and separation values were much lower for the HTPB-based PES membranes than for the pure PES membrane, when the membranes were cast using NMP. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used for morphological characterization and the correlation of topography/photography with the performance data was also examined. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.