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    Charge tunable thin-film composite membranes by gamma-ray triggered surface polymerization

    Year: 2017

    Journal: Sci Rep, Volume 7, JUN 30

    Authors: Reis, Rackel; Duke, Mikel C.; Tardy, Blaise L.; Oldfield, Daniel; Dagastine, Raymond R.; Orbell, John D.; Dumee, Ludovic F.

    Organizations: Collaborative Research Network (CRN) initiative of the Australian Department of Industry [2012]; National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia; Australian Government through the National Urban Water and Desalination Plan; AINSE grant (ALNGRA) [13064, 14050]; Deakin University Microscopy Unit; Dr. Ludovic F. Dumees Alfred Deakin Post-Doctoral Fellowship

    Thin-film composite poly(amide) (PA) membranes have greatly diversified water supplies and food products. However, users would benefit from a control of the electrostatic interactions between the liquid and the net surface charge interface in order to benefit wider application. The ionic selectivity of the 100 nm PA semi-permeable layer is significantly affected by the pH of the solution. In this work, for the first time, a convenient route is presented to configure the surface charge of PA membranes by gamma ray induced surface grafting. This rapid and up-scalable method offers a versatile route for surface grafting by adjusting the irradiation total dose and the monomer concentration. Specifically, thin coatings obtained at low irradiation doses between 1 and 10 kGy and at low monomer concentration of 1 v/v% in methanol/water (1: 1) solutions, dramatically altered the net surface charge of the pristine membranes from -25 mV to +45 mV, whilst the isoelectric point of the materials shifted from pH 3 to pH 7. This modification resulted in an improved water flux by over 55%, from 45.9 to up 70 L.m(-2).h(-1), whilst NaCl rejection was found to drop by only 1% compared to pristine membranes.
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