Antifouling and antimicrobial coatings for thin film composite membranes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10293308-B2
Application number	US-201816134867-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2018
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	May 21, 2019
Grant date	May 21, 2019

Abstract

A coated, thin-film composite membrane includes a porous support and a polyamide barrier layer in contact with the porous support. A fouling-resistant and antimicrobial layer of star polymers is in contact with the polyamide barrier layer. The star polymers included hydrophilic arms of about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of neutral hydrophilic moieties, and about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of antimicrobial functional groups.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of forming a layer of self-assembled star polymers on a thin-film composite membrane, the method comprising:
exposing a surface of a polyamide barrier layer of the thin-film composite membrane to an aqueous solution comprising star polymers with hydrophilic arms comprising about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylates, and about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of amino-functional (meth)acrylates; and
draining an excess of the aqueous solution to form an antifouling and antimicrobial coating on the polyamide barrier layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the arms of the star polymers comprise about 45 mol % to about 73 mol % of the polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylates, and about 55 mol % to about 27 mol % of the amino-functional (meth)acrylates.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising drying the coating with air.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the coating is dried for less than about 30 seconds.

5. The method of claim 1 , where in the coating is further cross-linked by thermal annealing and/or UV irradiation.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising rinsing the coating with water.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coating comprises a monolayer of star polymers.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the hydrophilic arms of the star polymers comprise: (i) polyethylene glycol methacrylate (PEGMA) and (ii) dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA).

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the star polymers comprise a hydrophobic core.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the hydrophobic core comprises polystyrene.

11. A method of forming a layer of self-assembled star polymers on a thin-film composite membrane with a porous support and a polyamide barrier layer in contact with the porous support, the method comprising:
applying to the polyamide barrier layer an aqueous solution comprising star polymers with hydrophilic arms comprising about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylates, and about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of amino-functional (meth)acrylates; wherein the star polymers self-assemble to form a coating on the polyamide barrier layer, the coating comprising a single layer of star polymers.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophilic arms of the star polymers comprise: (i) polyethylene glycol methacrylate (PEGMA) and (ii) dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA).

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrophilic arms of the star polymers comprise about 45 mol % to about 73 mol % of the polyethylene glycol (meth)acrylates, and about 55 mol % to about 27 mol % of the amino-functional (meth)acrylates.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the hydrophilic arms of the star polymers comprise: (i) polyethylene glycol methacrylate (PEGMA) and (ii) dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA).

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the star polymers comprise a hydrophobic core.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the hydrophobic core comprises polystyrene.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the porous support comprises polysulfone (PSF).

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein a support layer underlies the porous support.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Na Young-Hye
• Wang Ran
• Tek Andy T
• Sly Joseph

Classifications

• B01D71/40

  Polymers of unsaturated acids or derivatives thereof, e.g. salts, amides, imides, nitriles, anhydrides, esters · CPC title

• B01D71/06

  Organic material · CPC title

• B01D69/12

  Composite membranes; Ultra-thin membranes · CPC title

• B01D2323/30

  Cross-linking · CPC title

• B01D67/0006

  by chemical reactions (in-situ polymerisation, polycondensation, cross-linking or reaction for manufacturing composite membranes B01D69/125) · CPC title