Fabrication of Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes for Membrane Distillation Application

Nanofibrous membranes of matrimide were successfully fabricated using electrospinning technique under optimized conditions. Nanofibrous membranes were found to be highly hydrophobic with high water contact angle of 130°. FESEM and pore size distribution analysis revealed the big pore size structure of electrospun membranes even greater than 2μm and the pore size distribution is found to be narrow. Flat sheet matrimide membranes were fabricated via casting followed by phase separation.The morphology, Pore size distribution and water contact angle were compared with the electrospun membranes. Both membranes fabricated by electrospinning and phase separation techniques were subjected to membrane distillation (MD). Electrospun membranes showed high water vapour flux of 56 kg/m 2 -h and it is very high compared to the casted membrane as well as most of the fabricated and commercially available highly hydrophobic membranes.