Tuning the hydraulic permeability and molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) of surface nano-structured ultrafiltration membranes

Hydraulic permeability and molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) performance tuning of polysulfone (PSf) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane was attained via surface modification with a tethered layer poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). Surface nano-structured (SNS) PAA synthesized onto base PSf UF membranes by atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) activation followed graft polymerization (GP) acrylic acid (AA). Through systematic study, it shown that effective SNS-PAA-PSf feasible adjustments APP conditions. It shown, for the first time, can be range hydraulic (spanning factor 1.1–2.6 in magnitude) given MWCO, or MWCO 1.5–2.3 permeability, thereby overcoming permeability-MWCO tradeoff.