Antifouling microfiltration membranes prepared from acrylic acid or methacrylic acid grafted poly(vinylidene fluoride) powder synthesized via pre-irradiation induced graft polymerization

This study describes the manufacture, characterization and evaluation of microfiltration membranes with antifouling properties. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) powder was grafted with acrylic acid (AAc) or methacrylic acid (MAA) via a pre-irradiation induced graft polymerization technique. The presence of graft chains was proven by FT-IR spectroscopy. Then, microfiltration (MF) membranes were cast from AAc or MAA grafted PVDF powder with different degree of grafting (DG) using phase inversion methodology. The contact angle, mean pore size and water uptake of MF membranes were measured. The morphology of MF membranes was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and water filtration properties were tested. The antifouling performance of those MF membranes cast from AAc or MAA grafted PVDF powder was characterized by means of measuring the recovery percentage of pure water flux after the membranes were fouled by bovine serum albumin (BSA) aqueous solution. After the antifouling performance test, BSA absorbed onto the surfaces of MF membranes was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy in ATR mode. The experimental results show that MF membranes made from grafted polymer powder have elevated water flux performance and antifouling properties.