One-Pot Polymerization of Dopamine as an Additive to Enhance Permeability and Antifouling Properties of Polyethersulfone Membrane

Abstract

This paper reports the fabrication of polyethersulfone membranes via in situ hydrogen peroxide-assisted polymerization of dopamine. The dopamine and hydrogen peroxide were introduced into the dope solution where the polymerization occurred, resulting in a single-step additive formation during membrane fabrication. The effectivity of modification was evaluated through characterizations of the resulting membranes in terms of chemical functional groups, surface morphology, porosity, contact angle, mechanical strength and filtration of humic acid solution. The results confirm that the polydopamine was formed during the dope solution mixing through peroxide-assisted polymerization as proven by the appearance of peaks associated OH and NH groups in the resulting membranes. The presence of polydopamine residual in the membrane matric enhances the pore properties in terms of size and porosity (by a factor of 10), and by lowering the hydrophilicity (from 69° to 53°) which leads to enhanced filtration flux of up to 217 L/m2 h. The presence of the residual polydopamine also enhances membrane surface hydrophilicity which improve the antifouling properties as shown from the flux recovery ratio of > 80%.

Surface Modification of Polyethersulfone (PES) with UV Photo-Oxidation

“…To enhance the hydrophilicity of the UV photo-oxidized PES surface, incorporation of graphene oxide [17][18][19][20][21] and sulfonated groups on the surface [20,22] may help create increased interfacial adhesion via H-bonding and dipole-dipole interaction. In addition, surface treatment of PES with polymerized dopamine [23] and waterborne nanocellulose coatings [24] increased hydrophilicity and improved the antifouling and antibacterial properties of PES.…”

Mussel-Inspired Two-Dimensional Halide Perovskite Facilitated Dopamine Polymerization and Self-Adhesive Photoelectric Coating

“…The peak at 1496 cm –1 is assigned to the carbonyl group indicating the oxidation of the phenolic group in the polymerization process . The peaks at 3374 and 1651 cm –1 in the infrared spectrum of PDA-1 are related to −NH– stretching mode and CN stretching mode, respectively. − These results confirm that the intramolecular cyclization occurs during dopamine polymerization. Furthermore, we recorded the 1 H NMR spectrum (Figure S6) and 13 C NMR spectrum (Figure S7) of PDA-1 in DMSO- d 6 solution.…”

Optimization of Chitosan Synthesis Process Parameters to Enhance PES/Chitosan Membrane Performance for the Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)

“…One study by [38] stressed the need to minimize chitosan membrane manufacturing's impact on the environment, especially in CO2 separation processes, while improving permeability. Meanwhile, the authors of [39,40] explored different ways of leveraging chitosan for enhanced performance: Ref. [40] looked at how varying polyethylene glycol compositions affected oily wastewater treatment efficacy via chitosan membranes, while ref.…”