Itzhak Tamar, Segev-Mark Naama, Simon Assaf, Abetz Volker, Ramon Guy Z, Segal-Peretz Tamar
Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Apr 7;13(13):15591-15600. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c23084. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
In recent years, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has emerged as a powerful technique for polymeric membrane surface modification. In this research, we study AlO growth via ALD on two polymeric phase-inverted membranes: polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and polyetherimide (PEI). We demonstrate that AlO can easily be grown on both membranes with as little as 10 ALD cycles. We investigate the formation of AlO layer gradient through the depth of the membranes using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and elemental analysis, showing that at short exposure times, AlO accumulates at the top of the membrane, reducing pore size and creating a strong growth gradient, while at long exposure time, more homogeneous growth occurs. This detailed characterization creates the knowledge necessary for controlling the deposition gradient and achieving an efficient growth with minimum pore clogging. By tuning the AlO exposure time and cycles, we demonstrate control over the AlO depth gradient and membranes' pore size, hydrophilicity, and permeability. The oil antifouling performance of membranes is investigated using confocal imaging during flow. This characterization technique reveals that AlO surface modification reduces oil droplet surface coverage.
近年来，原子层沉积（ALD）已成为一种用于聚合物膜表面改性的强大技术。在本研究中，我们通过ALD研究了在两种聚合物相转化膜上生长AlO的情况：聚丙烯腈（PAN）和聚醚酰亚胺（PEI）。我们证明，只需10个ALD循环，就能在两种膜上轻松生长AlO。我们使用高分辨率透射电子显微镜和元素分析研究了AlO层在膜深度方向上的梯度形成，结果表明，在短暴露时间下，AlO在膜顶部积累，减小了孔径并形成了强烈的生长梯度，而在长暴露时间下，生长更加均匀。这种详细的表征为控制沉积梯度和实现高效生长且最小化孔堵塞提供了必要的知识。通过调整AlO的暴露时间和循环次数，我们展示了对AlO深度梯度以及膜的孔径、亲水性和渗透性的控制。在流动过程中使用共聚焦成像研究了膜的抗油污染性能。这种表征技术表明，AlO表面改性降低了油滴的表面覆盖率。
