Designing a biocidal reverse osmosis membrane coating: Synthesis and biofouling properties
In this study, a biocidal coating was developed in order to reduce biofouling on a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane using a quaternary ammonium (QA) functionalized polymer. The synthesis of a series of polysulfone (PS) ionomers with QA groups is described, and a method for spraying these QA ionomers as an alcoholic solution, which dried into water insoluble coatings. Contact angle and streaming potential were used to analyze the coating's hydrophilicity and surface charge. Both PS-QA1 and the commercial RO membrane had an apparent contact angle of 68° that increased to 126° for PS-QA12 corresponding to alkyl chain length. A negativelymore »