Design of Robust FEP Porous Ultrafiltration Membranes by Electrospinning-Sintered Technology

Abstract

Perfluoropolymer membranes are widely used because of their good environmental adaptability. Herein, the ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membranes were fabricated with electrospinning-sintered technology. The effects of PVA content and sintering temperature on the fabricated membranes’ morphologies and properties were investigated. The results indicate that a kind of dimensionally stable network structure was formed in the obtained ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membranes after sintering the nascent ultrafine fibrous FEP/PVA membranes. The optimal sintering conditions were obtained by comparing the membranes’ performance in terms of membrane morphology, hydrophobicity, mechanical strength, and porosity. When the sintering temperature was 300 °C for 10 min, the porosity, water contact angle, and liquid entry pressure of the membrane were 62.7%, 124.2° ± 2.1°, and 0.18 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membrane at the optimal sintering conditions was tested in vacuum membrane distillation with a permeate flux of 15.1 L·m−2·h−1 and a salt rejection of 97.99%. Consequently, the ultrafine fibrous FEP porous membrane might be applied in the seawater desalination field.

Keywords

• poly(tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP)
• ultrafine fibrous membrane
• electrospinning-sintered
• vacuum membrane distillation