Poly(arylene sulfide sulfone) hybrid ultrafiltration membrane with TiO2-g-PAA nanoparticles: Preparation and antifouling performance

Poly(arylene sulfide sulfone) (PASS) is a kind of newly developed polymeric membrane material which has excellent mechanical strength, thermal stability, and solvent resistance. And, it would be a potential material for high temperature ultrafiltration and organic solvent filtration. In this article, PASS hybrid ultrafiltration membrane with improved antifouling property was prepared by mixing TiO 2 nanoparticles which were grafted with polyacrylic acid (PAA). These membranes were prepared by a phase inversion technique and their separation performance and antifouling property of the prepared membranes were investigated in detail by SEM, FTIR, EDS, contact angle goniometry, filtration experiments of water, and BSA solution. The results shown that the TiO 2 - g -PAA nanoparticles dispersed well in membrane matrix, the hydrophilicity of the membranes prepared within TiO 2 - g -PAA nanoparticles have been improved and these membranes exhibited excellent water flux and antifouling performance in separation than that of the pure PASS membranes and PASS membranes with TiO 2 nanoparticles. More specifically, among membrane sample M0, M1.5, and MP1.5, MP1.5 which contained 1.5 wt% TiO 2 - g -PAA exhibited the highest water permeation (190.4 L/m 2 h at 100 kPa), flux recovery ratio, and the lowest BSA adsorption amount. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:2829–2837, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers