TY - JOUR
T1 - Scalable Zwitterionic Polymer Brushes for Antifouling Membranes via Cu0-Mediated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization
AU - McGaughey, Allyson L.
AU - Srinivasan, Sneha
AU - Zhao, Timothy
AU - Christie, Kofi S.S.
AU - Ren, Zhiyong Jason
AU - Priestley, Rodney D.
N1 - Funding Information:
A.L.M. would like to acknowledge the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University for financial support through the Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship. T.Z. was an REU student from Amherst University, supported by the Princeton Center for Complex Materials (PCCM) for this research. The authors also appreciate the financial support from the Princeton Catalysis Initiative (PCI). The authors also acknowledge use of Princeton’s Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC), which is partially supported by PCCM, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC; DMR-1420541 and DMR-2011750).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2023/7/14
Y1 - 2023/7/14
N2 - Polymer brush layers have attracted significant interest for versatile, controlled surface modification enabling fabrication and functionalization of membranes for water treatment and reuse applications. In particular, zwitterionic polymer brushes have been shown to provide strong resistance to organic fouling, oil fouling, biofouling, and inorganic fouling as membrane coatings for a variety of membrane processes. However, despite the demonstrated performance of polymer brush membranes, there are significant challenges associated with commercial scale-up of traditional fabrication methods. In this work, we demonstrate scalable grafting of zwitterionic polymer brushes from microfiltration membrane substrates under ambient conditions, and with low chemical consumption, for the first time, via Cu0-mediated surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (Cu0-SI-ATRP). We demonstrate that Cu0-SI-ATRP is effective for brush grafting from porous membrane substrates, including samples of up to 150 cm2. Furthermore, we systematically investigate the effect of polymerization in confinement on brush growth kinetics and fouling resistance, using colloid probe force microscopy and dynamic fouling experiments. Results demonstrate that Cu0-SI-ATRP results in poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) brush layers that significantly improve fouling resistance; however, polymerization methods significantly impact fouling resistance, for both Si wafer and membrane substrates. We identify polymerization methods that enhance fouling resistance even for thin brush layers. The results of this study provide pathways to the scalable fabrication and design of robust, antifouling membranes for applications in water treatment, water reuse, and resource recovery from waste streams.
AB - Polymer brush layers have attracted significant interest for versatile, controlled surface modification enabling fabrication and functionalization of membranes for water treatment and reuse applications. In particular, zwitterionic polymer brushes have been shown to provide strong resistance to organic fouling, oil fouling, biofouling, and inorganic fouling as membrane coatings for a variety of membrane processes. However, despite the demonstrated performance of polymer brush membranes, there are significant challenges associated with commercial scale-up of traditional fabrication methods. In this work, we demonstrate scalable grafting of zwitterionic polymer brushes from microfiltration membrane substrates under ambient conditions, and with low chemical consumption, for the first time, via Cu0-mediated surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (Cu0-SI-ATRP). We demonstrate that Cu0-SI-ATRP is effective for brush grafting from porous membrane substrates, including samples of up to 150 cm2. Furthermore, we systematically investigate the effect of polymerization in confinement on brush growth kinetics and fouling resistance, using colloid probe force microscopy and dynamic fouling experiments. Results demonstrate that Cu0-SI-ATRP results in poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) brush layers that significantly improve fouling resistance; however, polymerization methods significantly impact fouling resistance, for both Si wafer and membrane substrates. We identify polymerization methods that enhance fouling resistance even for thin brush layers. The results of this study provide pathways to the scalable fabrication and design of robust, antifouling membranes for applications in water treatment, water reuse, and resource recovery from waste streams.
KW - Cu-mediated surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization
KW - antifouling
KW - membranes
KW - polymer brushes
KW - scalable fabrication
KW - surface modification
KW - zwitterionic
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U2 - 10.1021/acsapm.3c00407
DO - 10.1021/acsapm.3c00407
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85164515446
SN - 2637-6105
VL - 5
SP - 4921
EP - 4932
JO - ACS Applied Polymer Materials
JF - ACS Applied Polymer Materials
IS - 7
ER -