Dual synergies of functionalized hydrophilic MOFs based poly (aryl ether ketone sulfone) ultrafiltration membranes: Electrostatic action and pore size screening

In this paper, amino monomer (4Am-PH) and the sulfonated poly (arylene ether ketone sulfone) involving amino groups (Am-SPAEKS) were successfully prepared by diazotization reaction and direct polycondensation, respectively. The polyethyleneimine-modified UiO-66-NH2 (P-MOFs) were prepared as fillers. Composite membranes were fabricated by incorporating different contents of P-MOFs into Am-SPAEKS polymer matrix using non-solvent-induced phase separation. The morphology, chemical structure and properties of the polymers, fillers and composite membranes were proved by FT-IR, 1H NMR, FE-SEM, XPS and etc. The final experimental results showed that the introduction of hydrophilic fillers, P-MOFs, substantially improved the hydrophilicity, water flux and antifouling capabilities of the membranes. The water contact angle decreased from 78.5° to 56.4°. The flux of water from a pure membrane was 333.68 L/m2 h. When the content of P-MOFs was 0.1 %, the water flux could attain to 830.23 L/m2 h, the retention rate of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution could attain to 98.6 % and the flux recovery rate (FRR) values of the composite membrane remained high (86.1 %) for BSA solution. In addition, after three cycles, the pure water flux of the composite membrane could still attain 595.49 L/m2 h. The results demonstrated that P-MOFs have significant potential for utilization in the preparation of composite ultrafiltration membranes and provided an effective idea for the modification and design of other hydrophilic MOFs applied in the study area of ultrafiltration membranes.