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Use of atomic force microscopy and fractal geometry to characterize the roughness of nano-, micro-, and ultrafiltration membranes
Authors:Philip Chuen Yung Wong   Young-Nam Kwon  Craig S. Criddle
Affiliation:aSchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore;bEnvironmental and Urban Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 689-805, Republic of Korea;cDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
Abstract:Membrane surface roughness alters the surface area accessible to foulants and may influence macroscopic properties, such as zeta potential. It is usually quantified by atomic force microscopy (AFM) at a single scan size. This would be appropriate if roughness is independent of scale. This study shows that the root-mean-square roughness, RRMS, is scale (or scan size, L × L) dependent through the power law RRMS = AL3−D. The coefficient, A, is the roughness at a scan size of 12 μm2. D is the fractal dimension that relates the increase in roughness to the increase in scan size. Values for A and D were determined for a range of micro- and ultrafiltration membranes using an AFM scan series covering at least three orders of magnitude in L. They were also determined for nanofiltration membranes by re-analysis of data in the literature. The results suggest that using the power law expression allows potentially greater discrimination among membrane types and provides a way to quantify membrane roughness over a range of scales. It was further observed that the coefficients A and D of PVDF membranes showed positive and negative correlations, respectively, with the molecular weight cut-off. Additionally, zeta potentials of PVDF membranes measured by the tangential streaming potential method became more negative with increasing A and more positive with increasing D, suggesting possible significant influence of roughness on hydrodynamic transport of ions.
Keywords:Membrane roughness   Microfiltration   Ultrafiltration   Nanofiltration   Fractal dimension   Atomic force microscopy   Membrane zeta potential
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