Hydrophobic modification of PVDF hollow fiber membranes using polydimethylsiloxane for VMD process

摘要

Fabricating hydrophobic porous membrane is important for exploring the applications of membrane distillation (MD). In the present paper, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane was modified by coating polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on its surface. The effects of PDMS concentration, cross-linking temperature and cross-linking time on the performance of the composite membranes in a vacuum membrane distillation (VIVID) process were investigated. It was found that the hydrophobicity and the VIVID performance of the PVDF hollow fiber membrane were obviously improved by coating PDMS. The optimal PDMS concentration, cross-linking temperature and cross-linking time were 0.5 wt%, 80 degrees C, and 9 hr, respectively.