Effects of Co-Solvent on the Morphology, Physicochemical Properties, and Performance of PVDF Electrospun Membranes in Comparison to Flat-Sheet Membranes

• Published in: Journal of composites science Vol. 6; no. 9; p. 253
• Main Authors: Abd El-Latif, Reham A., Aziz, Marwa E. Abdel, El-Taweel, Safaa H., El-Khair, Malak T. Abou, Saad, Gamal R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022
• Subjects: Acetone; Antifouling; Contact angle; Desalination; electro-spinning; Electrospinning; Flow velocity; Hydrophilicity; Mathematical functions; Membranes; MF/UF membranes; Microfiltration; Morphology; nano-fibrous; Organic matter; Performance evaluation; poly(vinylidene fluoride); Polymers; Polyvinylidene fluorides; PVDF; Reverse osmosis; Scanning electron microscopy; Software; Solvents; Ultrafiltration; Vinylidene fluoride
• ISSN: 2504-477X; 2504-477X
• DOI: 10.3390/jcs6090253

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes were fabricated using two different methods: the electro-spinning technique and the phase inversion process. The effect of a DMF/acetone solvent composition on the quality of the electrospun fibers of the PVDF membrane was investigated. The prepared PVDF membranes have been characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and contact angle. Uniform fibrous membranes with fiber diameters ranging mainly from 6 μm to 1.5 μm were formed from 16% (w/w) PVDF solutions in 50/50 (w/w) DMF/acetone at 30 kV voltage and 0.3 mL/h flow rate. The effect of surface morphology and hydrophilicity on anti-fouling potential was also studied and compared with flat-sheet membranes. It was found that the spun fibrous membranes exhibited the best hydrophilicity and antifouling properties with an average pure water permeability up to 400 L/m2/h, higher than that of the flat-sheet membranes, which exhibited 200 L/m2/h. Performance evaluation of the prepared PVDF membranes (water flux and organic matter retention) has been done through the use of a dead-end apparatus, where the results demonstrated the efficiency of electrospun membrane over the conventionally prepared flat-sheet membrane for utilization as a pretreatment stage of ultrafiltration and microfiltration (MF/UF), before reverse osmosis (RO) in the desalination plant.