Poly(Acrylic Acid-co-Acrylonitrile) Copolymer Modified Polyethersulfone Hollow Fiber Membrane with pH-Sensitivity

Abstract

In this study, functional polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber membranes with pH sensitivity were prepared by blending with poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylonitrile) (P(AA-AN)) copolymer. The copolymer was characterized by FTIR analysis, elemental analysis, and GPC measurement. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the morphology of the blended hollow fiber membranes. The modified hollow fiber membranes showed excellent pH sensitivity and pH reversibility and we confirmed that both the pore size change and the electroviscous effect had great effect on the pH sensitivity of the copolymer blended PES hollow fiber membranes.

Keywords:

• hollow fiber membrane
• pH sensitivity
• poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylonitrile)
• polyethersulfone
• ultrafiltration

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was financially sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50673064), State Education Ministry of China (Doctoral Program for High Education, No. JS20061116506327), and Sichuan Youth Science and Technology Foundation (08ZQ026-038). We would also like to thank our laboratory members for their generous help, and gratefully acknowledge the help of Ms. X.Y. Zhang and Ms. H. Wang of the Analytical and Testing Center at Sichuan University, for the SEM micrographs.