Preparation of Anti-Fouling Poly(Lactic Acid)(PLA) Hollow Fiber Membranes via Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation

Anti-fouling PLA hollow fibers were fabricated using synthesized PLA-PEG-PLA copolymer as an additive to improve the hydrophilicity. The tri-block copolymer was prepared by ring-opening polymerization and a hydrophilic copolymer processing good compatibility with PLA molecule was obtained and utilized to fabricate membrane with PLA by NIPS. Elemental analysis showed that PLA-PEG-PLA could stably exist in membranes and endow the membrane with persistent hydrophilic. Thus the contact angle decreased nearly 20o with 5% PLA-PEG-PLA content, resulting in higher water permeability and BSA rejection which indicated the anti-fouling property of PLA membrane was improved.