Resistance to protein and oil fouling of sulfobetaine-grafted Poly(vinylidene Fluoride) hollow fiber membrane and the electrolyte-responsive behavior in NaCl solution

An excellent protein-fouling-resistance performance of the sulfobetaine-grafted PVDF hollow fiber membrane was obtained and the potential of sulfobetaine-grafted PVDF membrane to resist the oil fouling was confirmed in the filtration solution which contained inorganic electrolyte, sodium chloride (NaCl). The electrolyte-responsive behavior of the sulfobetaine-modified PVDF membrane was demonstrated by the filtration of NaCl aqueous solution. The grafting amount of the modified PVDF hollow fiber membrane showed a stable value as 680 μg/cm2. An almost complete coverage of the membrane surface by the grafted sulfobetaine polymer contributed to the high hydrophilicity and membrane strength. The membrane surface became denser and the permeate flux reduced with the increase of NaCl concentration. The cyclic filtration experiment showed that during the filtration of the protein solution with 0.05 mol/L of NaCl, the sulfobetaine-grafted PVDF membrane exhibited an excellent protein-fouling-resistance performance with a high relative flux recovery of 98.2% and a low irreversible fouling extent which was lower 10 times than that of the nascent PVDF hollow fiber membrane. In addition, the sulfobetaine-grafted PVDF hollow fiber membrane showed an oil-fouling-resistance property during the filtration experiment of the oil-in-water emulsion with 0.05 mol/L of NaCl, resulting in an relative flux recovery of about twice that of the nascent PVDF membrane. The results extended the application of poly(sulfobetaine)-g-PVDF hollow fiber membrane in the fields of bio-separation, artificial oil and wastewater treatment.