Morphologies and properties of poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone) matrix ultrafiltration membranes with entrapped TiO2 nanoparticles

Poly(phthalazine ether sulfone ketone) (PPESK) is a newly developed membrane material with superior thermal stability and comprehensive properties. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂)‐entrapped PPESK ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were formed by dispersing uniformly nanosized TiO₂ particles in the casting solutions. Initially, the inorganic nanoparticles were organically modified with silane couple reagent to overcome the aggregation and to improve the dispersibility in organic solvent. The membranes were prepared through the traditional phase inversion method. The effects of inorganic TiO₂ nanoparticles on the membrane surface morphology and cross section structure were investigated using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Water contact angle (CA) measurement was conducted to investigate the hydrophilicity and surface wettability of the membranes. The influence of TiO₂ on the permeability, antifouling, and tensile mechanical properties of the PPESK membranes were evaluated by UF experiments and tensile tests. The experimental results showed that the obtained TiO₂‐entrapped PPESK UF membranes exhibit remarkable improvement in the antifouling and mechanical properties because of the introduction of TiO₂ nanoparticles. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 3623–3629, 2007