In the research work done by Plisko T.,?et al., the polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes were modified by addition of polyacrylic acid to increase their antifouling performance. These insulating membranes were coated with a thin gold layer by?DSR1?sputter coater for structural analysis by SEM imaging.
Membrane fouling caused by the sorption of feed mixture particles on the surface and inside pores of the membrane selective layer leads to membrane performance degradation and is a serious problem in membrane technology.
SEM micrographs in “Effect of the Addition of Polyacrylic Acid of Different Molecular Weights to Coagulation Bath on the Structure and Performance of Polysulfone Ultrafiltration Membranes”
Plisko T.,?et al., modified these ultrafiltration membranes by the addition of polyacrylic acid (PAA) with different molecular weight and concentrations to reach maximum antifouling performance of 136% for 450,000 g·mol?1?PAA.
The influence of PAA molecular weight on different membrane properties, such as surface roughness, water contact angle, zeta potential, the separation, and antifouling performance were experimented. SEM imaging is used to study the insulating structure of these gold coated samples.
It was found that PAA-modified membranes present smaller pore size and porosity, along with greater?hydrophilicity?and higher values of negative charge of membrane surface.
