Poly(ether‐block‐amide) membrane with deformability and adjustable surface hydrophilicity for water purification

Abstract

Freshwater resources are currently insufficient, and another form of freshwater resources, namely, ice, is very interesting except for the issue of how to use new materials for effective purification during the processing procedure. In this article, a new membrane material with multisize pore structure in the cross‐section and intact thin skin layer on the upper and lower surfaces was successfully prepared by adding porogen, filler and setting heating environment during the phase separation process. The membrane exhibits excellent axial deformability, and its elongation at break can reach to 160% strain. Meanwhile, they all show elastic deformation behavior in the range from −60 to 100°C. Even if high content of hydrophobic filler is compounded into these membranes, that is, 5.7 wt% carbon tube content, water contact angle of membrane's surface is only 72.5°, demonstrating obvious hydrophilicity. In addition, in the water purification process, the adsorption rate constant reached ideal value of 0.26 s−1, and the equilibrium adsorption capacity was about 2.8 g/g, showing fast and efficient water purification ability. In the mode of external heating source or the membrane's heat dissipation, these prepared membranes can melt the ice to obtain purified water and exhibit a controllable purification ability in this process.

Nanocarbon-Based Mixed Matrix Pebax-1657 Flat Sheet Membranes for CO2/CH4 Separation

“…The same behavior was also previously observed for cross-linked Pebax membranes, where higher grade of crosslinking resulted in an analogous increase in surface hydrophobicity [40]. Similarly, this trend has also been presented in a study regarding MWCNTs/Pebax MMMs [41].…”

One‐pot three‐step synthesis of PDMAEMA‐b‐PMMA‐b‐PNIPAM triblock block copolymer for preparing pH and thermal dual‐responsive PVDF blend membranes

“…As we all know, amphiphilic diblock copolymers are commonly utilized as additives to improve the hydrophilicity of membranes. In the process of non‐solvent‐induced phase separation (NIPS), hydrophobic blocks are preferentially anchored in the membrane matrix, while hydrophilic blocks are distributed on the surface of the membrane and the inner walls of the pores 31 . If the hydrophilic blocks of the polymers are stimuli‐responsive, the prepared membranes will be endowed with this characteristic.…”

“…In the process of nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS), hydrophobic blocks are preferentially anchored in the membrane matrix, while hydrophilic blocks are distributed on the surface of the membrane and the inner walls of the pores. 31 If the hydrophilic blocks of the polymers are stimuli-responsive, the prepared membranes will be endowed with this characteristic. Due to the good compatibility of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with PVDF, it is more easily anchored within PVDF membranes.…”

Preparation of fiber core support UHMWPE/SiO2 composite hollow fiber membrane toward enhancing structure stability and antifouling

“…The shortage of water resources is an urgent problem to be solved. [1] Wastewater treatment is an important method to solve the shortage of water resources. [2][3][4][5] Membrane separation technology is widely used in water treatment because of its simple process, convenient operation, and low energy consumption.…”