Surface modification of polyamide and poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes

Experimental results from the gas‐plasma treatment and electron‐beam irradiation of polyamide (PA) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes to improve their wettability and to evaluate protein adsorption at their surface are presented. The wettability of the membrane surface was determined by contact angle measurements; the analysis of the surface composition was performed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We observed that a reduction in the water contact angle was not always indicative of a reduction in the protein adsorption and, furthermore, that a charge at the surface of the modified membrane seemed to be a major factor in the protein adsorption process. Furthermore, the XPS results shed some light on the modification mechanism of PVDF and PA by electron‐beam irradiation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013