Manawi Yehia M, Wang Kui, Kochkodan Viktor, Johnson Daniel J, Atieh Muataz A, Khraisheh Marwan K
Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar Foundation, Doha, Qatar.
School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410075, China.
Membranes (Basel). 2018 Nov 13;8(4):106. doi: 10.3390/membranes8040106.
In this work, novel polysulphone (PS) porous membranes for water desalination, incorporated with commercial and produced carbon nanotubes (CNT), were fabricated and analyzed. It was demonstrated that changing the main characteristics of CNT (e.g., loading in the dope solutions, aspect ratio, and functionality) significantly affected the membrane properties and performance including porosity, water flux, and mechanical and surface properties. The water flux of the fabricated membranes increased considerably (up to 20 times) along with the increase in CNT loading. Conversely, yield stress and Young's modulus of the membranes dropped with the increase in the CNT loading mainly due to porosity increase. It was shown that the elongation at fracture for PS/0.25 wt. % CNT membrane was much higher than for pristine PS membrane due to enhanced compatibility of commercial CNTs with PS matrix. More pronounced effect on membrane's mechanical properties was observed due to compatibility of CNTs with PS matrix when compared to other factors (i.e., changes in the CNT aspect ratio). The water contact angle for PS membranes incorporated with commercial CNT sharply decreased from 73° to 53° (membrane hydrophilization) for membranes with 0.1 and 1.0 wt. % of CNTs, while for the same loading of produced CNTs the water contact angles for the membrane samples increased from 66° to 72°. The obtained results show that complex interplay of various factors such as: loading of CNT in the dope solutions, aspect ratio, and functionality of CNT. These features can be used to engineer membranes with desired properties and performance.
在这项工作中，制备并分析了用于海水淡化的新型聚砜（PS）多孔膜，其中掺入了商业生产的碳纳米管（CNT）。结果表明，改变碳纳米管的主要特性（例如，在铸膜液中的负载量、长径比和官能团）会显著影响膜的性能，包括孔隙率、水通量以及机械性能和表面性能。随着碳纳米管负载量的增加，所制备膜的水通量显著增加（高达20倍）。相反，膜的屈服应力和杨氏模量随着碳纳米管负载量的增加而下降，主要是由于孔隙率增加。结果表明，由于商业碳纳米管与聚砜基体的相容性增强，PS/0.25 wt.%碳纳米管膜的断裂伸长率远高于原始聚砜膜。与其他因素（即碳纳米管长径比的变化）相比，由于碳纳米管与聚砜基体的相容性，观察到对膜机械性能更显著的影响。对于掺入商业碳纳米管的聚砜膜，当碳纳米管含量为0.1 wt.%和1.0 wt.%时，水接触角从73°急剧降至53°（膜亲水化），而对于相同负载量的自制碳纳米管，膜样品的水接触角从66°增加到72°。所得结果表明，各种因素之间存在复杂的相互作用，例如：铸膜液中碳纳米管的负载量、碳纳米管的长径比和官能团。这些特性可用于设计具有所需性能的膜。
