A Novel Polyvinylidene Fluoride Tree-Like Nanofiber Membrane for Microfiltration.
A novel polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) tree-like nanofiber membrane (PVDF-TLNM) was fabricated by adding tetrabutylammonium chloride (TBAC) into a PVDF spinning solution via one-step electrospinning. The structure of the prepared membranes was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and pore size analysis, and the hydrophilic property and microfiltration performance were also evaluated. The results showed that the tree-like nanofiber was composed of trunk fibers and branch fibers with diameters of 100-500 nm and 5-100 nm, respectively. The pore size of PVDF-TLNM (0.36 μm) was smaller than that of a common nanofiber membrane (3.52 μm), and the hydrophilic properties of the membranes were improved significantly. The PVDF-TLNM with a thickness of 30 ± 2 μm showed a satisfactory retention ratio of 99.9% against 0.3 μm polystyrene (PS) particles and a high pure water flux of 2.88 × 10⁴ L·m-2·h-1under the pressure of 25 psi. This study highlights the potential benefits of this novel PVDF tree-like nanofiber membrane in the membrane field, which can achieve high flux rates at low pressure.
College of Textile, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China. lpllzj@126.com.
Zongjie
Z
Li
College of Textile, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China. kweimin@126.com.
Weimin
W
Kang
College of Textile, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China. zhaohuihuitjpu@126.com.
Huihui
H
Zhao
College of Textile, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China. humin.1990@163.com.
Min
M
Hu
College of Packaging and Printing Engineering, Tianjin Vocational Institute, Tianjin 300387, China. weina209@163.com.
Na
N
Wei
College of Packaging and Printing Engineering, Tianjin Vocational Institute, Tianjin 300387, China. qiujiuan@126.com.
Jiuan
J
Qiu
State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China. bowen15@tjpu.edu.cn.
Bowen
B
Cheng
electrospinning; microfiltration; nanofibers; polyvinylidene fluoride; tree-like