Understanding the Roles That Patterning and Chemistry Play on Membrane Fouling

The fouling propensity of a membrane depends greatly on its surface properties such as chemistry and roughness. Literature and experience show that modification of membrane surfaces with appropriate chemical coatings can be effective but not sufficient for controlling membrane fouling. The discovery that sub-micron patterning of a membrane surface can improve its fouling resistance provides an orthogonal membrane design parameter.

In this poster presentation, we will describe the initial results of a collaborative experimental-modeling project aimed at developing fouling-resistant membranes. The research hypotheses are that (i) certain combinations of geometric patterns and chemical coatings will significantly reduce membrane fouling and (ii) experimentally-trained multiscale computational models will accelerate the discovery of new surface patterns with appropriate chemistries to improve membrane fouling resistance.

We will introduce the methodology used to pattern the membrane surfaces and report the preliminary results of a systematic study to understand how physical patterning and chemistry impact fouling propensity for colloidal foulants. Performance measurements and microscopy images will be analyzed to compare the fouling behavior of the new membranes to appropriate controls. Adsorption energies will be measured and compared to those from computational simulations.