Mesoporous Composite Membrane Based on Block Copolymer Self-Assembly

Fabrication of porous membranes with high permeability and selectivity together has attracted great attention due to their potential applications in various fields including sensing, catalysis, filtration, separation, drug delivery, etc. In this work, very simple yet highly efficient method to generate mesoporous composite membranes with straight pores at the top has been reported via block copolymer self-assembly combined with polysulfone microporous membrane. The composite membranes are composed of the active layer of block copolymers with straight nanopores and the supporting layer of polysulfone membrane giving the mechanical stability. The top layer via block copolymer self-assembly exhibits the well-ordered, vertically-oriented cylindrical structures through direct spin-coating on the supporting membrane without additional process. The final structure is ideal for water filtration, ultimately providing high flux as well as selectivity due to high density and small size of nanopores in BCP layer. The surface interaction of block components has been proven to be key parameter in determining the structure and orientation. In addition, here, the application as a separation membrane due to the size exclusion have been successfully demonstrated.