Volume 142, Issue 23 e56994
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effect of Additive Molecular Weight and Dope Composition on the Morphology and Performance of Poly(ε-Caprolactone)/Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Asymmetric Membranes

Smitha Manholi

Smitha Manholi

Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, Kerala, India

Department of Chemistry, N.S.S. College, Manjeri, Malappuram, Kerala, India

Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (lead), ​Investigation (lead), Methodology (lead), Software (lead), Validation (lead), Visualization (lead), Writing - original draft (lead)

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Ardra Ashok K.P.

Ardra Ashok K.P.

Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, Kerala, India

Contribution: Writing - review & editing (supporting)

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Sujith Athiyanathil

Corresponding Author

Sujith Athiyanathil

Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, Kerala, India

Correspondence:

Sujith Athiyanathil ([email protected])

Contribution: Supervision (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)

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First published: 17 March 2025

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

ABSTRACT

An eco-friendly poly ε caprolactone PCL based asymmetric membrane was prepared using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as a solvent and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) pore former in a water medium by the nonsolvent-induced phase separation method (NIPS). The current study investigates the effect of pore-forming, hydrophilic agent PEG with molecular weights ranging from low to high in two different dope compositions of 10% and 12%. Structural and morphological features of the membranes were studied and confirmed asymmetric nature and finger-like morphology. Porosity and pore size significantly reduced when the dope composition increased. Whereas increased porosity with a slight reduction in the pore size was observed with the increase in the additive molecular weight. The filtration performance, porosity, and hydrophilic properties were analyzed. The water contact angle of the membranes decreases from 69.2 to 56.2 in 10% dope and 73.9 to 59.1 in 12% dope composition. The pure water flux also increased from 68.23 to 153 L m 2 h 1 as the additive molecular weight increased. Rejection studies were conducted with an oil and immunoglobulin protein as permeate and the membrane incorporating the highest molecular weight PEG showed 98% rejection for protein and 89% rejection for oil with a flux recovery ratio of 87.5%.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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