Preparation, characterization and antifouling property of polyethersulfone--PANI/PMA ultrafiltration membranes

Novel polyaniline (PANI)/phosphomolybdicacid (PMA) nanoparticles were prepared by simple protonation method and used to enhance the antifoulingproperty of polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltrationmembranes. The prepared nanoparticle size around 30 ± 3 nm was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Complete PMA incorporation with PANI was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The surface charge of nanoparticles are average value is of - 46 mV. The contact angle, water flux and flux with rejection of protein of all membranes increased by increasing nanoparticle concentrations in the range of 0, 2, 3, 5 and 7 wt.% into casting solution. Compared to pure PES membrane, the PES–PANI/PMAmembrane exhibits better antifouling performance with very high (> 98.8%) protein rejection rate. Especially, the 3 wt.% PANI/PMA nanoparticles incorporated membrane shown superior results than other membranes. The roughness of PES–PANI/PMAmembranes are remarkably enhanced due to the drastic enrichment of nanoparticle segments on the membrane surface. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as a model protein to investigate the protein adsorption resistivity and permeation properties of all membranes. BSA ultrafiltration experiment showed that PES–PANI/PMAmembranes had higher flux and better antifoulingproperty than PES membrane.