Antifouling and antimicrobial coatings for thin film composite membranes
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsYoung-Hye Na, Joseph Sly, Andy T. Tek, Ran Wang
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Abstract
A coated, thin-film composite membrane includes a porous support and a polyamide barrier layer in contact with the porous support. A fouling-resistant and antimicrobial layer of star polymers is in contact with the polyamide barrier layer. The star polymers included hydrophilic arms of about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of neutral hydrophilic moieties, and about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of antimicrobial functional groups.
Claims20
A coated, thin-film composite membrane, comprising:
- a porous support;
- a polyamide barrier layer in contact with the porous support;
- and
- a fouling-resistant and antimicrobial layer of star polymers in contact with the polyamide barrier layer, wherein the star polymers comprise hydrophilic arms, the hydrophilic arms comprising:
- (i) about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of neutral hydrophilic moieties, and
- (ii) about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of antimicrobial functional groups.
A method of forming a layer of self-assembled star polymers on a thin-film composite membrane, the method comprising:
- exposing a surface of a polyamide barrier layer of the thin-film composite membrane to an aqueous solution comprising star polymers with hydrophilic arms comprising (i) about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylates and (ii) about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of amino-functional (meth)acrylates;
- and
- draining the excess star polymer solution to form an antifouling and antimicrobial coating on the polyamide barrier layer.
A thin film composite filtration membrane comprising a polyamide barrier layer on a porous support, and a coating on a surface of the polyamide barrier layer, wherein the coating comprises a hydrophobic microgel core and at least 6 hydrophilic polymer arms comprising (i) about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylates (ii) and about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of amino-functional (meth)acrylates.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.