mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG-based candidate hemodialysis membrane with enhanced performance in sieving, flux, and hemocompatibility

The efficiency of the hemodialysis membrane has been widely improved by blending small molecular additives and modifying the membrane surface for patients with chronic or acute kidney disease. However, a qualified sieving property, flux, and hemocompatibility are intractable to give consideration simultaneously, while the elution of small-molecular additives and modifiers easily cause coagulation, complement activation, etc. Fortunately, the BCP methoxy polyethylene glycol-polyethersulfone-block-methoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG) based membranes exhibiting great potential for sieving in middle molecular toxin and compatibility between mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG and PES, is nearly unfeasible elution during hemodialysis, by reason of including bounded hydrophilic segments by chemical bonds. Here, the mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG is synthesized to fabricate the membranes, including blend membranes and BCP membrane. As a result, the blend membranes have shown an increasing flux, hemocompatibility, and sieving of lysozyme with the increasing cooperation of mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG, the block copolymer (BCP) mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG membrane has shown better balance than the blend membranes in flux, sieving, and hemocompatibility. Besides, for exploring further possibilities, the typical blend membrane M4 (mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG: 20%, PES: 5%) and BCP membrane M5 (mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG: 25%) are post tailored by ethanol at 50 °C for 2 h. This process leading the typical membranes to an efficient flux (M5-P: 442.22 L m−2 h−1) and sieving performances (M5-P: the urea and lysozyme sieving of 96.43% and 74.97%) due to the effect of ethanol at the micro-molecular chain movements and microspheres transfer. Our work presents BCP mPEG-b-PES-b-mPEG a promising future in hemodialysis membranes according to the superior performances of flux and sieving.