Preparation and characterization of zirconium oxide particles filled acrylonitrile-methyl acrylate-sodium sulfonate acrylate copolymer hybrid membranes

Acrylonitrile-methacrylate-sodium sulfonate acrylate (AN-MA-SSA) copolymer and zirconium oxide( ZrO2) particles were used as membrane materials to prepare inorganic/organic hybrid membranes. N-methyl pyrrolidone and polyethylene glycol 400 were used as the solvent and additive respectively. The micron-size ZrO2 particles filled AN-MA-SSA copolymer hybrid membranes were prepared by the phase inversion method. The loading of inorganic particles in membranes could be varied from 10% to 85%. The membrane properties such as pure water flux, rejection of bovine serum albumin (BSA), porosity, hydrophilicity, morphological structures of hybrid membranes and the dimensional stability were studied. The results showed that the water flux, hydrophilicity and the dimensional stability of PAN-based membranes were improved with ZrO2 particles filling along with little effect on the retention properties.