A Novel Polyvinylidene Fluoride Tree-Like Nanofiber Membrane for Microfiltration

Abstract

A novel polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) tree-like nanofiber membrane (PVDF-TLNM) was fabricated by adding tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) into a PVDF spinning solution via one-step electrospinning. The structure of the prepared membranes was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and pore size analysis, and the hydrophilic property and microfiltration performance were also evaluated. The results showed that the tree-like nanofiber was composed of trunk fibers and branch fibers with diameters of 100–500 nm and 5–100 nm, respectively. The pore size of PVDF-TLNM (0.36 μm) was smaller than that of a common nanofiber membrane (3.52 μm), and the hydrophilic properties of the membranes were improved significantly. The PVDF-TLNM with a thickness of 30 ± 2 μm showed a satisfactory retention ratio of 99.9% against 0.3 μm polystyrene (PS) particles and a high pure water flux of 2.88 × 104 L·m−2·h−1 under the pressure of 25 psi. This study highlights the potential benefits of this novel PVDF tree-like nanofiber membrane in the membrane field, which can achieve high flux rates at low pressure.

Incorporation of PVDF Nanofibre Multilayers into Functional Structure for Filtration Applications

“…Nanofibrous membranes are made of randomly laid fibres oriented anisotropically that can effectively filter out particles by a size-exclusion mechanism. Electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibrous membranes find applications in many areas such as membrane distillation [ 5 ], microfilters [ 6 , 7 ], air filters [ 8 ], electrically conductive nanofibres [ 9 , 10 ], and separators [ 11 ]. However, the poor mechanical properties of the nanofibres restrict their application in liquid filtration [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Super‐hydrophilic electrospun PVDF/PVA‐blended nanofiber membrane for microfiltration with ultrahigh water flux

“…It should be noted that the mean pore diameter of the membrane is slightly larger than the size of PS microsphere, but it still can effectively sieve PS microsphere. This phenomenon can be explained by “layer effect.” Due to the small size of PS microspheres, they can be stacked together to form a dense “cake layer.” The effective pore size of the surface of the electrospun nanofiber membrane is significantly reduced, and the fouling layer acted as a valid separation layer, thus achieving a higher separation ratio . In the dead‐end filtration, the cake layer will fortify the transmembrane pressure and seriously affect the flux of filtration.…”

“…As a very promising way to prepare membranes for microfiltration, electrospinning has been paid considerable attention. Electrospinning nanofiber membranes usually have notable features such as a large specific area, high porosity, controlled aperture, and an interconnected open pore structure . These advantages can directly improve the flux performance without sacrificing the pollutant retention rate.…”

Effect of Laminating Pressure on Polymeric Multilayer Nanofibrous Membranes for Liquid Filtration

“…Electrospun polymeric nanofiber web has gained increasing importance in the production of engineered surfaces with sub-micron to nano-scale fibers. The widely employed areas of electrospun nanofibers are tissue engineering [ 1 , 2 ], wound healing [ 3 ], drug delivery systems [ 4 ], composites [ 5 ], solar cells [ 6 ], protective clothing [ 7 ], lithium-ion batteries [ 8 , 9 ], sensors [ 10 , 11 , 12 ], gas sensors and separators [ 13 , 14 ], and air and water filtration [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], owing to their high surface-area-to-volume ratio, highly porous structure and extremely narrow pore size. The main factor influencing the application of nanofibers is their mechanical properties.…”