TY  - JOUR
VL  - 22
JF  - Comptes Rendus Chimie
A1  - Toh, M.J.
A1  - Oh, P.C.
A1  - Chew, T.L.
A1  - Ahmad, A.L.
UR  - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85067517228&doi=10.1016%2fj.crci.2019.05.004&partnerID=40&md5=fc1b8ee983de33a29f492624e9117f42
Y1  - 2019///
ID  - scholars11602
N2  - Pore wetting is undesirable in the membrane gasâ??liquid separation process as it deteriorates the gas removal flux. To alleviate the affinity of a membrane surface toward a liquid solvent, its hydrophobicity needs to be enhanced. In this study, a superhydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene membrane was synthesized via a simple and facile nonsolvent-induced phase inversion process. Hydrophobic nano-SiO2 particles were used as solvent additives to improve the wetting resistance of the membrane. The results revealed that blended nano-SiO2 membranes exhibited enhanced surface hydrophobicity in terms of water contact angle. Such improvement was attributed to the enhancement of surface roughness via the formation of hierarchical multilevel protrusions. Besides, the embedment of nanoparticles in polymer spherulitic globules also contributed to the reduction in surface energy of the membrane. As a result, the blended nano-SiO2 membrane achieved superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of up to 151°. © 2019 AcadĂ©mie des sciences
IS  - 5
EP  - 372
PB  - Elsevier Masson SAS
SN  - 16310748
SP  - 369
TI  - Antiwettability enhancement of PVDF-HFP membrane via superhydrophobic modification by SiO2 nanoparticles
N1  - cited By 11
AV  - none
ER  -