Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties
In this work, several ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with enhanced antifouling properties were fabricated using a rapid and green surface modification method that was based on the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Two types of hydrophilic monomers—acrylic acid (AA) and 2-hydroxyethy...
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doaj-b668eb1091fd42bcb3b370a46c1aafa22020-12-08T00:02:33ZengMDPI AGMembranes2077-03752020-12-011040140110.3390/membranes10120401Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling PropertiesNoresah Said0Ying Siew Khoo1Woei Jye Lau2Mehmet Gürsoy3Mustafa Karaman4Teo Ming Ting5Ebrahim Abouzari-Lotf6Ahmad Fauzi Ismail7Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, MalaysiaAdvanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, MalaysiaAdvanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, MalaysiaDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Konya Technical University, Konya 42075, TurkeyDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Konya Technical University, Konya 42075, TurkeyRadiation Processing Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Kajang 43000, MalaysiaHelmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) Electrochemical Energy Storage, Helmholtzstraße 11, D-89081 Ulm, GermanyAdvanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, MalaysiaIn this work, several ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with enhanced antifouling properties were fabricated using a rapid and green surface modification method that was based on the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Two types of hydrophilic monomers—acrylic acid (AA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were, respectively, deposited on the surface of a commercial UF membrane and the effects of plasma deposition time (i.e., 15 s, 30 s, 60 s, and 90 s) on the surface properties of the membrane were investigated. The modified membranes were then subjected to filtration using 2000 mg/L pepsin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions as feed. Microscopic and spectroscopic analyses confirmed the successful deposition of AA and HEMA on the membrane surface and the decrease in water contact angle with increasing plasma deposition time strongly indicated the increase in surface hydrophilicity due to the considerable enrichment of the hydrophilic segment of AA and HEMA on the membrane surface. However, a prolonged plasma deposition time (>15 s) should be avoided as it led to the formation of a thicker coating layer that significantly reduced the membrane pure water flux with no significant change in the solute rejection rate. Upon 15-s plasma deposition, the AA-modified membrane recorded the pepsin and BSA rejections of 83.9% and 97.5%, respectively, while the HEMA-modified membrane rejected at least 98.5% for both pepsin and BSA. Compared to the control membrane, the AA-modified and HEMA-modified membranes also showed a lower degree of flux decline and better flux recovery rate (>90%), suggesting that the membrane antifouling properties were improved and most of the fouling was reversible and could be removed via simple water cleaning process. We demonstrated in this work that the PECVD technique is a promising surface modification method that could be employed to rapidly improve membrane surface hydrophilicity (15 s) for the enhanced protein purification process without using any organic solvent during the plasma modification process.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/10/12/401ultrafiltrationmembranePECVDhydrophilicityantifouling propertyprotein purification |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Noresah Said Ying Siew Khoo Woei Jye Lau Mehmet Gürsoy Mustafa Karaman Teo Ming Ting Ebrahim Abouzari-Lotf Ahmad Fauzi Ismail |
spellingShingle |
Noresah Said Ying Siew Khoo Woei Jye Lau Mehmet Gürsoy Mustafa Karaman Teo Ming Ting Ebrahim Abouzari-Lotf Ahmad Fauzi Ismail Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties Membranes ultrafiltration membrane PECVD hydrophilicity antifouling property protein purification |
author_facet |
Noresah Said Ying Siew Khoo Woei Jye Lau Mehmet Gürsoy Mustafa Karaman Teo Ming Ting Ebrahim Abouzari-Lotf Ahmad Fauzi Ismail |
author_sort |
Noresah Said |
title |
Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties |
title_short |
Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties |
title_full |
Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties |
title_fullStr |
Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid Surface Modification of Ultrafiltration Membranes for Enhanced Antifouling Properties |
title_sort |
rapid surface modification of ultrafiltration membranes for enhanced antifouling properties |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Membranes |
issn |
2077-0375 |
publishDate |
2020-12-01 |
description |
In this work, several ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with enhanced antifouling properties were fabricated using a rapid and green surface modification method that was based on the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Two types of hydrophilic monomers—acrylic acid (AA) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were, respectively, deposited on the surface of a commercial UF membrane and the effects of plasma deposition time (i.e., 15 s, 30 s, 60 s, and 90 s) on the surface properties of the membrane were investigated. The modified membranes were then subjected to filtration using 2000 mg/L pepsin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions as feed. Microscopic and spectroscopic analyses confirmed the successful deposition of AA and HEMA on the membrane surface and the decrease in water contact angle with increasing plasma deposition time strongly indicated the increase in surface hydrophilicity due to the considerable enrichment of the hydrophilic segment of AA and HEMA on the membrane surface. However, a prolonged plasma deposition time (>15 s) should be avoided as it led to the formation of a thicker coating layer that significantly reduced the membrane pure water flux with no significant change in the solute rejection rate. Upon 15-s plasma deposition, the AA-modified membrane recorded the pepsin and BSA rejections of 83.9% and 97.5%, respectively, while the HEMA-modified membrane rejected at least 98.5% for both pepsin and BSA. Compared to the control membrane, the AA-modified and HEMA-modified membranes also showed a lower degree of flux decline and better flux recovery rate (>90%), suggesting that the membrane antifouling properties were improved and most of the fouling was reversible and could be removed via simple water cleaning process. We demonstrated in this work that the PECVD technique is a promising surface modification method that could be employed to rapidly improve membrane surface hydrophilicity (15 s) for the enhanced protein purification process without using any organic solvent during the plasma modification process. |
topic |
ultrafiltration membrane PECVD hydrophilicity antifouling property protein purification |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/10/12/401 |
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