<p> The 2nd International Conference on Biomedical Applications of Nanomaterials (ICOBAN 2018) 9 – 12 January 2018</p><p>PDMS/PVDF hybrid electrospun membrane with superhydrophobic property and drop impact dynamics for dyeing wastewater treatment using membrane distillation</p><p>Alicia Kyoungjin An 1*, Jiaxin Guo1, Eui-Jong Lee1, Sanghyun Jeong2, Yanhua Zhao3, Zuankai Wang3, and TorOve Leiknes2 1 School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue </p><p>Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, ([email protected])</p><p>Fouling in membrane distillation (MD) results in an increase in operation costs and deterioration in a water quality. In this work, a poly(vinylidene fluoride-co- hexafluoropropene) (PVDF-HFP) electrospun (E-PH) membrane was fabricated by hybridizing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymeric microspheres with superhydrophobicity onto the E-PH membrane via electrospinning. The resulting hybrid PDMS with E-PH (E- PDMS) membrane showed a significant enhancement in surface hydrophobicity (contact angle, CA = 155.4°) and roughness (Ra = 1,285mm). The zeta potential of E-PDMS membrane surface showed a higher negative value than that of a commercial PVDF (C- PVDF) membrane. These properties of E-PDMS membrane provided an antifouling in treating of differently-charged dyes and generated a flake-like dye–dye (loosely bound foulant) structure on the membrane surface rather than in the membrane pores. This also led to a high productivity of E-PDMS membrane (34 Lm-2h-1, 50% higher than that of C-PVDF membrane) without fouling or wetting. In addition, complete color removal and pure water production were achieved during a long-term operation. An application of intermittent water flushing (WF) in direct contact MD (DCMD) operation led to a 99% CA recovery of E- PDMS membrane indicating its sustainability. Therefore, the E-PDMS membrane is a promising candidate for MD application in dyeing wastewater treatment. </p><p>Reference 1. E.-J. Lee, A.K. An, T. He, Y.C. Woo, H.K. Shon, Electrospun nanofiber membranes incorporating fluorosilane-coated TiO2 nanocomposite for direct contact membrane distillation, J. Memb. Sci. 520 (2016) 145–154. doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2016.07.019. 2. A.K. An, J. Guo, S. Jeong, E.-J. Lee, S.A.A. Tabatabai, T. Leiknes, High flux and antifouling properties of negatively charged membrane for dyeing wastewater treatment by membrane distillation, Water Res. 103 (2016) 362–371. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.07.060.</p>