Fabricating PES/SPSF membrane via reverse thermally induced phase separation (RTIPS) process to enhance permeability and hydrophilicity

A new method was presented to prepare hydrophilic PES/SPSF flat-sheet membrane by a reverse thermally induced phase separation (RTIPS) method to enhance permeability and hydrophilicity. SPSF was self-made and was blended to improve the hydrophilicity of PES flat-sheet membrane. The performance of PES/SPSF flat-sheet membrane, which varied with SPSF content and coagulation water bath temperature, was investigated by SEM, FTIR, AFM, pure water flux, BSA rejection rate, water contact angle and long-term testing. FTIR results proved the successful blending of SPSF with PES membrane, SEM images showed that dense skin surface and finger-like structure emerged in the membrane fabricated by NIPS method, while a porous top surface and sponge-like structure emerged in the membrane fabricated by RTIPS. The pure water flux and BSA rejection rate of the membrane for RTIPS were both higher than those for NIPS. AFM images revealed that surface roughness increased with the addition of SPSF. The water contact angle decreased with the increase of SPSF, which illustrated better hydrophilicity with the addition of SPSF. The flat-sheet PES membrane prepared with 2 wt% SPSF by RTIPS method exhibited decent properties, reaching maximum pure water flux (966 L m(-2) h(-1)) and at the same time the BSA rejection rate was 79.2%. The long-term test proved that the anti-fouling performance of PES/SPSF membrane was better than that of PES membrane.