Outstanding antifouling performance of poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes: Novel amphiphilic brushlike copolymer blends and one‐step surface zwitterionization

ABSTRACT In this study, we endowed a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane with outstanding antifouling ability by blending the hierarchical amphiphilic brushlike copolymer [poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate)‐ b ‐polydimethylsiloxane‐ b ‐poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate)]‐ g ‐poly( N,N ‐dimethylamino‐2‐ethyl methacrylate) with different initial monomer/initiator feed ratios and performing a one‐step surface zwitterionization of spontaneously segregated poly( N,N ‐dimethyl aminoethyl methacrylate) segments. Interestingly, nanoscale granular micelles were formed on the surface during zwitterionization because of the migration and self‐assembly of the amphiphilic copolymer; this contributed to the membrane hydrophilicity and antifouling ability. During the filtration of the model foulant bovine serum albumin (BSA) aqueous solution, the BSA rejection ratio and flux recovery ratio increased remarkably to 94.8 and 100.0%, respectively. Moreover, the modified membranes also possessed stable and durable antifouling properties after three cycles of BSA filtration. Thus, this study provided a versatile method for constructing a PVDF ultrafiltration membrane that could achieve high permeability and good antifouling properties in efficient wastewater treatment. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 47637.