Polyaniline/polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes with improved permeability and anti-fouling behavior

Abstract To enhance the anti-fouling performance of polysulfone (PSF) membranes, polyaniline (PANI) nanofibers were used as additives in a facile method to prepare PANI/PSF blended membranes (PPMs). The fouling behavior between the membrane and natural organic matters (NOM) pollutant was further analyzed by implementing extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (XDLVO) theory. Overall, the performance of the PPMs was improved in comparison with that of the pristine PSF membrane. The pure water flux of the PPM increased to 2.4 times that of pristine PSF, reaching up to 169 L·m−2 h−1 bar−1. The tensile strength of the hybrid membranes also increased after the incorporation of PANI nanofibers. In particular, in anti-fouling measurement, the PPMs exhibited enhanced anti-fouling properties for filtration serum albumin (BSA), humic acid (HA) and sodium alginate (SA) solutions. The anti-fouling mechanism was analyzed by the interfacial interaction energy, which were obtained by applying the XDLVO theory. Results confirmed that there are reduced attractive interaction energies between the PPMs and NOM pollutants molecules in comparison to the interaction between the pristine PSF and NOM pollutants molecules.