Development of Ruthenium Oxide Modified Polyethersulfone Membranes for Improvement of Antifouling Performance Including Decomposition Kinetic of Polymer

In this study, RuO2-embedded PES membrane was prepared and it used for protein separation. The antifouling properties of the fabricated composite membranes were also investigated using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as solution. mean roughness increased proportionally by introducing RuO2 particles. porosity higher than that pristine membrane. On other hand, has smaller average pore size after addition blending particles to caused increase hydrophilicity. contact angle measured 76.67 ± 1.21°, 73.23 0.84°, 70.28 0.77°, 67.13 0.80° PES, PES/RuO2 0.50 wt%., 0.75 1.00 wt%, respectively. pure water flux decreased from 439.7 379.3 L/m2/h wt%. calculated 16.47 nm up 6.05 when BSA fluxes 84.1 2.1, 86.3 2.5, 93.9 3.2 pristine, wt% membranes, supplied lowest (73.6 3.1 L/m2/h). rejection efficiencies 45.5 1.8% 92.6 1.5% blended 0 results depicted Rir values while Rr RuO2. thermal studies performed DTA/TG. Activation Energy (Ea) found be 57.67-641.34 kJ/mol Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) 55.13–659.10 Kissenger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS).