Role of organic additives in the preparation of polyetherimide membranes for solvent resistant nanofiltration

Abstract

The incorporation of non-solvent organic additives in the casting solution has emerged as a significant technique in membrane fabrication. This approach enables the manipulation of membrane morphology and facilitates the preparation of high-performance membranes. Our work focusing on investigating the impact of various organic additives on the development of integrally skinned polyetherimide asymmetric nanofiltration membranes, which has not been explored in solvent resistant nanofiltration (SRNF). The additives investigated in this study can be classified into three categories: hydrophilic monomers, hydrophilic polymer and surfactant additives. The effect of these organic additives on PEI membrane performance was evaluated by separating methylene blue (MB, molecular weight 374 Da) from ethanol solution, and membrane morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM).