κ-Carrageenan as a promising pore-former for the preparation of a highly porous polyphenylsulfone membrane

Abstract A biopolymer, κ-carrageenan, was investigated as a pore-former for preparing highly porous polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) membranes. The prepared membranes were characterized by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, contact angle zeta-potential, porosity, mean pore diameter, and water permeability. The results demonstrated that the pure membrane’s finger-like structure was replaced by a continuous porous structure with uniformly distributed pores when κ-carrageenan was added. More importantly, the membrane porosity and mean pore diameter increased from 48 ± 3% to 78 ± 2% and from ∼2 nm to 1.1 µm, respectively, demonstrating the strong potential of κ-carrageenan as a pore-former.