Surface modification of polymeric ultrafiltration membranes: III. Effect of plasma-chemical surface modification onto some characteristics of polyacrylonitrile ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract

Plasma-chemical surface modification of polyacrilonitrile ultrafiltration membranes is presented here including surface pre-activation by treatment in cold plasma, obtained in dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure, and following chemical grafting of mono-functional polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains. The effect of such plasma-chemical modification onto the physico-chemical characteristics of the membrane surface as well as onto some basic working membrane characteristics such as productivity and selectivity was studied. XPS analysis was employed to control the chemical composition of the membrane surface. Contact angle measurement was used to characterize the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance on the surface. Membrane structure was imaged by SEM observations.