• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.463-469
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• 2016

In this research, a new expectation in enhancing the PES (polyethersulfone) polymer phase inversion membrane performances with nanoparticles is proposed by using ZnO. This paper investigated the synthesis of PES phase inversion membranes including ZnO nanoparticles and evaluates the performance of these mixed matrix membranes. The PES-ZnO mixed matrix membranes were fabricated by phase inversion method using the PES-ZnO-NMP(N-methyl-1-pyrrolidone) casting solutions with low ZnO nanoparticles content of 0.375 wt%. The influence of ZnO nanoparticles on the characteristics of PES-ZnO mixed matrix membranes was investigated with scanning electron microscope observations of membrane cross-sections, contact angle measurements, tensile strength measurements, pure water flux measurements and ultrafiltration experiments of BSA solution. Those results showed that the performance advancements in comparison with the pure PES membrane without ZnO in terms of increasing hydrophilicity as well as reducing membrane fouling by adding ZnO nanoparticles even in low concentration.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-37
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• 2011

PES UF membranes containing silver were prepared to impart antibacterial properties for waste water treatment. Asymmetric membranes for antibacterial application were prepared from polyethersulfone (PES) and silver nitrate ($AgNO_3$) (PES/$AgNO_3$=15/2 by weight) solution in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) via simple wet phase inversion technique. These membranes were characterized by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) of different molecular weights (1000 ppm in water) at room temperature and on operating pressure of 5 bars. It was observed that the water flux of PES-$AgNO_3$ membrane is slightly lower than virgin PES but still increased linearly with the increment of pressure applied. The morphology of the resulting membranes was examined using Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Elemental analysis using EDS proved that silver is successfully loaded on the membrane surfaces. Due to the success of loading silver on membrane surfaces, antibacterial activities were evaluated via agar diffusion method against Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) culture. By incorporating 2 wt% of silver nitrate, PES-$AgNO_3$ showed significant inhibition ring on both E.coli and S.aureus. Filtration of E.coli solution (OD 0.31) showed satisfactory rejection data with ~100% inhibition growth after 24 hours incubation at $37^{\circ}C$. Resultant membranes also exhibit better tensile strength (compared to virgin PES) up to 71% may be due to the suggested interactions. The residual silver during fabrication was measured using ICP-MS and result showed that the residual silver content of PES-$AgNO_3$ membrane was only ~1% of the original silver added in the polymer solution. These studies have shown that PES-$AgNO_3$ UF membranes are potential in improving the filtration in water treatment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.355-365
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• 2016

The improvement of fouling resistance of porous polymeric membrane is one of the most important targets in membrane preparation for water purification in many process like wastewater treatment. Membranes can be modified by various techniques, including the treatment of polymer material, blending of hydrophilic polymer into polymer solution, and post treatment of fabricated membrane. This research proposed the modifications of morphology and surface property of hydrophobic membrane by blending polyethersulfone (PES) with three polymeric additives, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), Pluronic F127 (Plu), and Tetronic 1307 (Tet). PES hollow fiber membranes were fabricated via dry-wet spinning process by using a spinneret with inner and outer diameter of 0.7 and 1.0 mm, respectively. The morphology changes of PES blend membrane by those additives, as well as the change of performance in ultrafiltration module were comparatively observed. The surface structure of membranes was characterized by atomic force microscopy and Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy. The cross section morphology of PES blend hollow fiber membranes was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that all polymeric additives blended in this system affected to improve the performances of PES membrane. The ultra-filtration experiment confirmed that PES-PVP membrane showed the best performance among the three membranes on the basis of filtration stability.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2001

This paper was to investigate the preparation of polysulfone(PS), polyethersulfone(PES) and polyphenylsulfone(PPS) membrane. The thermal property of PPS was higher than that of others. From the result of SEM, the concentration of polymer was found to have a significant effect on the structure of membrane, and the structure of membrane made of PES is found to have regular micell form of asymmetry. Permeability and selectivity for oxygen and nitrogen gas in the air were analyzed by GC. Permeabilities of the membrane made of PES for oxygen and nitrogen in air, 1.5 and $0.7(x10^9[cm^3(STP)cm/cm^2seccmHg]) $, respectively was higher than that of others. and Selectivity of the membrane made of PPS for oxygen to nitrogen gas in air was 2.9.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.273-283
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• 2017

Polysulfone (PSF) is one of an important polymer that has been widely used in the manufacture of asymmetric microfiltration (MF) membranes. PSF membrane is considered as hydrophobic membrane that easily fouled during membrane operation process. The blending method is an effective method for improving the fouling resistance of PSF membranes. sPES (sulfonated polyethersulfone) is one of the useful polymers that can be used in PSF polymer blend method to improve hydrophilicity of PSF membranes. In this study, microfiltration polymer membranes were prepared by using PSF/sPES/PVP/BE/DMF casting solution and water coagulant. The morphology of MF membranes was changed by addition of a small amount of sPES in casting solution. The morphology of the sPES added membranes was changed into a highly asymmetric structure. The active layer grew and mean pore size was decreased by addition of sPES. However, the water flux of PSF/sPES/DMF/PVP/BE membrane was higher than that of PSF/DMF/PVP/BE membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.219-232
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• 2007

The polyethersulfone(PES)-titanium oxide($TiO_2$) hybrid membranes were prepared by immersion precipitation phase inversion method. The casting solution for the preparation of $PES-TiO_2$ hybrid membrane was provided by adding $TiO_2$ nano particles into the basis polymer solution of 14 wt% and 20 wt% PES/N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone(NMP). The $TiO_2$ loading [wt% ($TiO_2/NMP$)] in eating solution was varied from 0 to 60 wt%. Membrane performance and morphological change of the resulting $PES-TiO_2$ hybrid membranes were discussed in aspect of $TiO_2$ loading, by viscosity, coagulation value and light transmittance of the casting solution, measurement of tensile strength, pore size and contact angle, surface and cross sectional SEM images of the hybrid membrane, and ultrafiltration experiments using the hybrid membrane. According as increase of $TiO_2$ loading in the casting solution, viscosity is increased and coagulation value becomes lower, therefore the thermodynamic instability of the casting solution is increased. It is found that when $TiO_2$ loading is increased, 1) precipitation rate becomes faster while instantaneous demixing is maintained, 2) pure water flux, membrane pore size and compaction stability of the resulting membranes are increased, 3) tensile strength and contact angle are decreased. Dead-end ultrafiltration of bovine serum albumin(BSA) solution using the hybrid membrane shows that membrane performance(flux of BSA solution) enhanced up to 7 times compared with the results obtained using the pure PES membrane(not containing $TiO_2$ particle), due to the increase of hydrophilicity.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.141-144
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• 2003

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.191-200
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• 2023

Polyethersulfone (PES) is a widely employed membrane material for water and industrial purification applications owing to its hydrophilicity and ease of phase separation. However, PES membranes and filters prepared using the nonsolvent induced phase separation method often encounter significant flux decline due to pore clogging and cake layer formation on the dense membrane surfaces. Our investigation revealed that tight microfiltration or loose ultrafiltration membranes can be subject to physical fouling due to the formation of a dense skin layer on the bottom side caused by water intrusion to the gap between the shrank membrane and the substrate. To investigate the effect of the bottom surface porosity on membrane fouling, two membranes with the same selective layers but different sub-layer structures were prepared using single and double layer casting methods, respectively. The double layered PES membrane with highly porous bottom surface showed high flux and physical fouling tolerance compared to the pristine single layer membrane. This study highlights the importance of physical optimization of the membrane structure to prevent membrane fouling.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.205-212
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• 2014

Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were modified by various physico-chemical modification methods to enhance the surface hydrophilicity for application as a separation membrane to separate and collect water vapor from the flue gas. Homogeneous PES flat-sheet membranes were prepared and modified by acid treatment, blending and plasma treatment for hydrophilic surface modification. The surface characteristics of the modified PES membranes were evaluated by ATR-FTIR, XPS, SEM and contact angle measurements. No significant change in hydrophilicity was observed for the PES membranes modified by acid treatment with sulfuric acid or blending with various compositions of poloxamer as an amphiphilic PEO-PPO-PEO tri-block copolymer. On the other hand, Ar plasma treatment led to a significant increase in the hydrophilicity of the surface, depending on the plasma treatment time. As a result, the PES membrane could be the most efficiently surface-treated by applying the plasma treatment for enhancing their surface hydrophilicity.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2007

Protein affinity membranes based on polyethersulfone (PES) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were prepared by using an electrospinning method. The changes in the size of nanofiber according to the various conditions of electrospinning (concentration of spinning solution, voltage, flow rate, tip to collector distance) were investigated, and the preparation conditions of the affinity membrane were optimized. XPS and FT-IR results showed the firm incorporation of BSA with PES. It was found PES-BSA nanofibers could be prepared at the temp. of $20{\sim}22^{\circ}C$ and humidity of $45{\sim}55%$. The size of nanofibers increased with increase of the content of PES in the spinning solution while BSA did not affect much to the size of nanofiber. It was also revealed that the narrow size distribution of nanofiber could be obtained with PES 7 wt%, BSA 0.7 wt%, HFP 92.3 wt% at the electrospinning conditions of 1 mL/hr, 10 cm TCD, and 10 kV.