Enhancing Antifouling Property of Polysulfone Ultrafiltration Membrane by Grafting Poly(ethylene glycol) Methyl Ether Methacrylate(PEGMA) via UV-initiated Polymerization

The poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA) was grafted onto polysulfone (PSF) ultrafiltration membrane using benzophenone(BP) as the initiator to improve the antifouling property. The polymer chain scission was suppressed by H-abstraction from methyl groups under long-wavelength UV irradiation (lambda > 300 nm), which partly avoided the photodegradation of PSF ultrafiltration membrane. The effects of PEGMA concentration, UV irradiation time and BP concentration on grafting degree, contact angle (CA) and the improvement of membrane antifouling properties were investigated. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(ATR/FTIR) was used to characterize the change of chemical composition. The flux of pure water decreased slightly after modification, while the rejection to bovine serum albumin (BSA) increased. The improvement of antifouling property for PEGMA-modified membrane was accordant with the increase of grafting degree.