Construction of antibacterial layer on polyvinylchloride three-channel hollow fiber membranes

• A remote plasma-induced graft polymerization process was employed.
• The inner surfaces of PVC three-channel hollow fibers were modified with PDMAE-BC.
• The surface structures of modified PVC membranes were maintained well.
• The hydrophilic enhancement leaded to a great improvement in membrane performance.
• The dynamic antibacterial efficacy of PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module reached 96.3%.

The inner surfaces of polyvinylchloride (PVC) three-channel hollow fiber membranes were successfully modified with poly(methacryloxylethyl benzyl dimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDMAE-BC) in a module scale via remote plasma-induced surface graft polymerization method. After grafting a PDMAE-BC layer, the PVC surface hydrophilicity was improved greatly due to the introduction of large amounts of oxygen and nitrogen containing polar groups onto polymer backbone. This hydrophilicity improvement directly leaded to a high pure water flux and a good antifouling property for the obtained PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module. Meanwhile, the inner surface morphologies of modified PVC membranes changed slightly and the surface structures were maintained well. The tensile strength, though deceased slightly at the remote plasma-treated stage, showed no significant change during overall grafting process. The obtained PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module exhibited highly effective and stable antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli. The antibacterial efficacy of PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module with only 6 fibers can achieve about 96.3% and could be further enhanced by increasing the packing density. The antibacterial membrane module may have great potential applications in actual wastewater treatment and membrane bioreactor (MBR).

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