A novel poly(arylene ether nitrile) ultrafiltration membrane for water purification and its antifouling property with in situ-generated SiO2 nanoparticles

In this work, poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) was utilized to fabricate a separation membrane to remove dye molecules and oil/water emulsions for the very first time. Specifically, 15 wt% polyethylene glycol (Mw = 800 Da) was added to the casting solution as a pore-forming agent to enhance the flux. In situ-generated SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were utilized to improve the membrane surface hydrophilicity by the hydrolyzation of tetraethyl orthosilicate under weak acid conditions. However, the surface hydrophilicity improvement was not significant. It may be because the strong mechanical strength of PEN caused most of the SiO2 NPs to be buried within the polymer matrix or SiO2 NPs were lost by dissolution in the acidic water bath. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were performed to study the membrane surface chemical features. Scanning electron microscopy images were obtained to observe the membrane cross-section morphology.