poly (vinylidene fluride) membrane preparation and characterization: effects of mixed solvents and peg molecular weight

In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (pvdf) ultrafiltration membranes were prepared via immersionprecipitation method using a mixture of two solvents triethyl phosphate (tep) and dimethylacetamide(dmac), which had different affinities with the nonsolvent (water). properties of the prepared membraneswere characterized using scanning electron microscope (sem) and contact angle and membrane porositymeasurements. the prepared membranes were further investigated in terms of pure water flux and bsarejection in cross flow filtration experiments. the results showed that by using a mixture of dmac and tepas solvent and changing the mixed solvent composition, membranes with different morphologies fromsponge‐like to macrovoid containing were obtained.maximum flux of the prepared membranes with different solvent mixing ratios was obtained for the onewith 60%wt tep in the casting solution of pvdf/tep‐dmac/ peg which equals to 76.8 lm‐2h‐1. the effect ofaddition of polyethylene glycol with different molecular weight on morphology and performance of themembranes has also been discussed.