Small polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules were grafted on ceramic γ-alumina membranes, by making use of organo-alkoxysilanes or organo-phosphonic acids as linking groups. It was proven by FTIR that the short PEG brushes are chemically grafted into the pores of a 5 nm γ-alumina mesoporous support, which results in a decrease of the pore diameter as measured by cyclohexane permporometry (reduction of 2.1 nm). The stability of these PEG-grafted membranes was investigated in water for 216 h. Permeability and liquid state ¹H NMR were used to show that PEG-modified membranes with an alkoxysilane linking group degrade rapidly during exposure to water. On the contrary, the phosphonic acid linking group remained grafted on γ-alumina supports for at least 216 h in water. In conclusion, this work shows a promising and simple method for the fabrication in a green solvent (water) of hydrophilic organically-modified ceramic membranes, which can be successfully applied for wastewater treatment.

通过使用有机烷氧基硅烷或有机膦酸作为连接基团，将小的聚乙二醇（PEG）分子接枝到陶瓷γ-氧化铝膜上。FTIR证明，短PEG刷已化学接枝到5 nmγ-氧化铝介孔载体的孔中，导致环己烷渗透法测量的孔径减小（减小2.1 nm）。在水中对这些PEG接枝膜的稳定性进行了216小时的研究。渗透性和液态¹1 H NMR用于显示具有烷氧基硅烷连接基团的PEG修饰的膜在暴露于水中期间迅速降解。相反，膦酸连接基团在水中至少接枝了216小时。总之，这项工作表明了一种有前途的简单方法，可以在绿色溶剂（水中）中制备亲水性有机改性陶瓷膜，该方法可以成功地用于废水处理。