Experimental and DFT investigation of surface degradation of polyvinylidene fluoride membrane in alkaline solution

► The alkaline treated PVDF membrane was characterized by FTIR, FT-Raman and XPS. ► The degradation mechanism was studied via COSMO-corrected DFT methods. ► Activation energies and Gibbs free energies for degradation paths were calculated. ► The degradation mechanism of PVDF membrane in alkaline solution was proposed.