title: Superhydrophilic In-Situ-Cross-Linked Zwitterionic Polyelectrolyte/PVDF-Blend Membrane for Highly Efficient Oil/Water Emulsion Separation.
abstract: Because of weak hydrophilicity, membranes always experience fouling problems during separations. This phenomenon seriously impedes the development of membrane technologies for practical industrial-oil wastewater treatment. In this work, we successfully fabricated a superhydrophilic zwitterionic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane using a two-part process with an in situ cross-linking reaction during nonsolvent-induced phase separation and a subsequent sulfonation reaction. To prepare this zwitterionic PVDF membrane, a copolymer poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PDH) was synthesized as a zwitterionic polymer precursor and used as an additive in membrane preparation. This zwitterionic additive is well-immobilized in the membrane using in situ cross-linking to ensure the long-term stability of the membrane, and subsequent sulfonation transforms the precursor to a zwitterionic polymer to produce a superhydrophilic membrane. This superhydrophilic zwitterionic PVDF membrane exhibits high water permeation flux and good antifouling properties for separating oil-in-water emulsions with high separation efficiency.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Yuzhang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University , Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University , Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Tieling
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7279-2903
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
keywords: antifouling surface; membrane blending; oil/water separation; superhydrophilic membrane; zwitterionic polymer