Deposition of a polymeric porous superhydrophobic thin layer on the surface of poly(vinylidenefluoride) hollow fiber membrane

Porous superhydrophobic layer of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was created by a simple approach on the Poly(vinylidenefluoride) (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes. Acetone and ethanol mixtures with different volume ratios were used as the non-solvent on the coating surface. A 5:1 (v/v) acetone/ethanol ratio provided a porous surface with a 152° ± 3.2 water contact angle. The high contact angle could reduce membrane wettability for better carbon dioxide capture when the membrane was used as gas-liquid contactor in absorption processes. To assess the effect of the created superhydrophobic layer, the pristine and modified membranes were tested in a CO2 absorption system for ten days. The results revealed that the absorption flux in the modified membrane was higher than that of pristine membrane.