FULLERENOL-POLYAMIDE THIN FILM COMPOSITE HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANES FOR LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT CUT-OFF ULTRAFILTRATION

Fullerenol C60(OH)24 was incorporated into a polyamide (PA) selective layer to develop novel thin film nanocomposite (TFN) hollow fiber membranes for low molecular weight cut-off ultrafiltration. TFN membranes were fabricated using the interfacial polycondensation technique by alternately pumping a fullerenol dispersion into the triethylenetetramine (TETA) aqueous solution and the isophthaloyl chloride solution into hexane through polysulfone hollow fiber membranes. The contact angle of the skin layer was found to decrease sharply from 34 to 21° when the concentration of fullerenol increases up to 0.5 wt. % in the TETA aqueous solution. Antifouling properties of the PA/fullerenol membranes were found to be superior to the initial membrane. The maximum fouling recovery ratio was observed for the TFN membrane with 0.3–0.75 wt. % of fullerenol in the TETA aqueous solution.