A Feasible Post-Treatment of Drying and Rewetting for Preparation of High-Flux Pluronic F127/Polyethersulfone Nanofiltration Membranes

Pluronic F127/polyethersulfone (PES) blend nanofiltration membranes were fabricated by varying polymer weight ratios of W F127 / W PES in casting solutions from 0.0 to 100.0 wt %. The initial wet membranes prepared via the phase inversion method were post-treated by drying at room temperature and then immersion into water for rewetting to obtain Pluronic F127/PES nanofiltration membranes. Membrane shrinkage and swelling, cross section and surface morphologies, water uptake, surface hydrophilicity, X-ray diffraction pattern, water flux, and rejection of dyes for Pluronic F127/PES nanofiltration membranes were investigated. The introduction of Pluronic F127 into PES membranes can substantially alleviate the membrane shrinkage during drying treatment. All of the prepared Pluronic F127/PES nanofiltration membranes can completely reject Alcian blue with a molecular weight of 1299. The water permeance of Pluronic F127/PES nanofiltration membrane at W F127 / W PES of 80% is as high as 176.2 L/(m 2 h MPa). After long-term immersion into sodium hypochlorite solution, Pluronic F127/PES nanofiltration membranes still keep over 95.7% rejection of Alcian blue.