The Use of AFM in Membrane Development

The adhesion of a range of colloid probes, both inorganic and biological, is greatly reduced at the PSU/SPEEK membranes, as shown by the data in Table 6.5. 

Such low adhesion forces show that the membranes are well suited to many types of separation. The removal of humic acid was investigated as an example of a challenging separation. The blend membranes gave very good separation with little fouling. By quantification of the fraction of humic acids deposited during filtration it was possible to show that both planar (S5-20) and tubular (T5-20) versions of the membranes showed high critical flux values, whereas membranes 

The many benefits of AFM in investigations of membranes and membrane processes may be summarized as  

Atomic force microscopy can determine the key properties of synthetic membranes pore size distribution, surface morphology and surface roughness, surface electrical properties, surface adhesion. 

Correspondence between surface pore dimensions from AFM and MWCO is good. In addition, AFM gives surface pore size distribution. 

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