PVDF ultrafiltration membrane with enhanced mechanical and filtration performance by hydrophilic pH-response nanofibers modification

Membrane separation is an efficient strategy to disrupt the spread of pathogens in an aqueous solution and produce clean water, but its performance is seriously affected by fouling caused by bioadhesive. In this study, novel pH-response attapulgite (p-ATP) nanofibers were prepared and applied in the modification of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) ultrafiltration membrane for bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution purification. Poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) was grafted onto the surface of attapulgite (ATP) to offer pH-response property and to improve compatibility with PVDF. p-ATP is a hydrophilic material, which can increase the anti-biofouling performance of PVDF, and its one-dimensional structure is beneficial for enhancing the inter-entanglement with organic chains in the membrane matrix. The resultant composite membrane loaded with 7% p-ATP presented 77.2% and 108.1% increase in stationary permeance and mechanical strength, respectively, than that of the pristine PVDF membrane. Furthermore, the PDMAEMA chains in p-ATP will be shrunken or swollen with the change of pH value, resulting in adsorbing or releasing water molecules. This process is effective to mitigate the adhesion between biofoulants and membrane and can break the already formed biofouling layer. So, the composite membranes are easily to be cleaned via a simple pH-change cleaning process. The molecular dynamic simulation was also conducted to analyze the high performance of the PVDF/p-ATP membrane to provide theoretical support.