Surface Antifouling Modification on Polyethylene Filtration Membranes by Plasma Polymerization

Abstract

Surface modification on microporous polyethylene (PE) membranes was facilitated by plasma polymerizing with two hydrophilic precursors: ethylene oxide vinyl ether (EO1V) and diethylene oxide vinyl ether (EO2V) to effectively improve the fouling against mammalian cells (Chinese hamster ovary, CHO cells) and proteins (bovine serum albumin, BSA). The plasma polymerization procedure incorporated uniform and pin-hole free ethylene oxide-containing moieties on the filtration membrane in a dry single-step process. The successful deposition of the plasma polymers was verified by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. Water contact angle measurements and permeation experiments using cell and protein solutions were conducted to evaluate the change in hydrophilicity and fouling resistance for filtrating biomolecules. The EO1V and EO2V plasma deposited PE membranes showed about 1.45 fold higher filtration performance than the pristine membrane. Moreover, the flux recovery reached 80% and 90% by using deionized (DI) water and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, indicating the efficacy of the modification and the good reusability of the modified PE membranes.

Preparation and Study of Antifouling and Fouling-Release Surface Materials from Copolymers with Anchoring Functional Groups

“…Many materials with universal antifouling functions have been screened out [10][11][12][13][14]. Antifouling surfaces prepared via grafting polymers from initiators or grafting polymers with functional groups have been reported [8,10,[15][16][17]. Chilkoti et al prepared poly-(OEGMA) using SI-ATRP to resist protein adhesion [18].…”

Surface Modification of a Regenerated Cellulose Film Using Low-Pressure Plasma Treatment with Various Reactive Gases

“…Plasma techniques have been widely applied for the surface modification of polymeric materials as an environmentally friendly approach. − Plasma is considered the fourth state of matter following solid, liquid, and gas, consisting of neutral atoms and molecules, electrons, ions, and radicals . Since these elements are energetic and highly reactive, plasma can affect the surface chemical state, morphology, wettability, and surface charge by the etching and functionalization procedure.…”