Influence of laser-induced for modification of polyacrylonitrile membranes by grafting of 2- hydroxyethyl methacrylate in the presence of visible light photoinitiator

Abstract

In this article, a simple and cost-effective way introduce to modify polyacrylonitrile membranes and increase their efficiency. In the new method, the laser beam effect is used to graft 2- hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) monomer to prepare nanofiltration membranes. Azo dye is used as a visible light photoinitiator to absorb the radiation and create free radicals during the membrane modification. The Laser-modified membrane analysis is performed by IR spectroscopy, AFM, SEM, contact angle, and zeta potential analysis. A significant decrease in the membrane charge from 1.17 to -6.91mV indicates the proper performance of this method. Improvement surface hydrophobicity could be detected by contact angle measurement. The separation performances of salts proved that membranes are associated with charged nanofiltration separation behavior. The modified membrane has reached a suitable value in salts separation performance (83% Na2SO4, 71% MgSO4, 36% NaCl, and 31% CaCl2) and organic compounds separations of 94.3% Acid Blue 92, 89.4% Acid Orange 7, 88.9% Ibuprofen, and 82.1% Cefixime. As far as has been investigated, this process has not been used for the preparation of nanofiltration-based membranes up to now. It may open up new opportunities to introduce a different class of membrane materials.