Issue 1, 2014

Highly dispersible polypyrrole nanospheres for advanced nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract

Highly dispersible polypyrrole (PPy) nanospheres were synthesized and used to produce polysulfone (PSf) nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes by a non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. The composite networks formed between PPy and PSf lead to higher porosity, hydrophilicity, surface charge, thermal stability, and water permeability, but slightly lower protein rejection. Nanocomposite membranes containing up to 20% PPy nanospheres were >10 times more permeable than pure PSf membranes, while the bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection decreased from 94 to 82%. With nanoscale pores, high porosity, improved hydrophilicity, and tunable surface charge properties, the PPy/PSf nanocomposite membranes hold great promise for advanced protein separation, dialysis, water filtration and other macro molecular separations.

Graphical abstract: Highly dispersible polypyrrole nanospheres for advanced nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
10 Jul 2013
Accepted
31 Jul 2013
First published
03 Sep 2013

Mater. Horiz., 2014,1, 58-64

Highly dispersible polypyrrole nanospheres for advanced nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes

Y. Liao, T. P. Farrell, G. R. Guillen, M. Li, J. A. T. Temple, X. Li, E. M. V. Hoek and R. B. Kaner, Mater. Horiz., 2014, 1, 58 DOI: 10.1039/C3MH00049D

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