Hydrophilic modification of microporous polysulfone membrane via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization of acrylamide

Polyacrylamide (PAM) brushes were grafted from chloromethylated polysulfone (CMPSF) membrane surface by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) to improve the membrane's hydrophilic property. In order to anchor the initiator onto polysulfone (PSF) membrane surface, CMPSF was used to prepare the microporous membrane by phase-inversion process. Attachment of the PAM chains on membrane surface was confirmed by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The grafted density of PAM was calculated to be 0.08 chains nm−2. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to characterize the surface morphology of the CMPSF membrane and modified membrane. The number-average molecular weight (Mn) of PAM linearly increased with the polymerization time, while the static water contact angle (θ) of the membrane grafted with PAM linearly decreased. This indicated the hydrophilic property of the membrane was linearly correlated with the chain length of graft polymer. Therefore linear control of PSF membrane's hydrophilic property was realized through adjusting polymerization time.