Preparation of Anti-Fouling Poly(Lactic Acid)(PLA) Hollow Fiber Membranes via Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation

Abstract

Anti-fouling PLA hollow fibers were fabricated using synthesized PLA-PEG-PLA copolymer as an additive to improve the hydrophilicity. The tri-block copolymer was prepared by ring-opening polymerization and a hydrophilic copolymer processing good compatibility with PLA molecule was obtained and utilized to fabricate membrane with PLA by NIPS. Elemental analysis showed that PLA-PEG-PLA could stably exist in membranes and endow the membrane with persistent hydrophilic. Thus the contact angle decreased nearly 20o with 5% PLA-PEG-PLA content, resulting in higher water permeability and BSA rejection which indicated the anti-fouling property of PLA membrane was improved.

State-of-the-Art Organic- and Inorganic-Based Hollow Fiber Membranes in Liquid and Gas Applications: Looking Back and Beyond

“…For the past ten years (2012–2022), there have been over 5000 papers reported on using PLA for various applications based on the statistics obtained from SCOPUS. Despite the greener approach, there is only a handful of work that adopted PLA in fabricating or modifying hollow fiber membranes for water application [ 676 , 677 , 678 ], owing to the poor mechanical properties that restricted their application in the pressure-driven process [ 679 ]. Further studies are crucial to push the feasibility of these materials in membrane development for environmental benign.…”