Surface pattern by nanoimprint for membrane fouling mitigation: Design, performance and mechanisms

Imparting water treatment membrane with surface pattern by nanoimprint offered a novel approach to fouling resistance. We employed nanoimprint to fabricate line-shape nanostructure on membrane distillation (MD) membrane surface. Patterned MD membrane exhibited strong antifouling property to Bovine S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 2017-11, Vol.124, p.238-243
Main Authors: Xie, Ming, Luo, Wenhai, Gray, Stephen R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adhesion force measurement
Animals
Cattle
Distillation
Foulant-membrane interaction
Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
Membrane filtration
Membranes
Membranes, Artificial
Nanoimprint
Protein fouling
Surface pattern
Water Purification
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Summary:Imparting water treatment membrane with surface pattern by nanoimprint offered a novel approach to fouling resistance. We employed nanoimprint to fabricate line-shape nanostructure on membrane distillation (MD) membrane surface. Patterned MD membrane exhibited strong antifouling property to Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) protein during MD separation. Water flux decline and protein deposition were substantially minimized on the patterned MD membrane in comparison with the pristine one. Such lower fouling propensity on the patterned MD membrane was mainly driven by the weak hydrophobic interaction between BSA protein and patterned MD membrane surface. Weaker adhesion force mapping of the patterned MD membrane was quantified. Representative force-distance curve of pristine MD membrane showed a strong attractive depletion force comparing with that of patterned one. The simple, chemical-free, and scalable nanofabrication approach enables varying designs on membrane surface for special membrane properties. [Display omitted] •Nanoimprint imparted patterns to membrane distillation (MD) membrane surface.•Patterned MD membrane demonstrated low fouling propensity to protein fouling.•Adhesion force mapping was used to elucidate foulant-membrane interaction.•Anti-fouling property of patterned MD membrane was driven by low adhesion force.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2017.07.057