Preparation of high‐performance reverse osmosis membrane by zwitterionic polymer coating in a facile one‐step way

ABSTRACT Aiming at preparing high‐performance polyamide (PA) reverse osmosis (RO) membrane in a facile and high effective way, the codeposition strategy of dopamine and zwitterionic polymer was first applied to modify PA RO membrane. The noncovalent bonds between dopamine and Poly [2‐(Methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl‐(3‐sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide (PSPE) act to fix PSPE onto the membrane surface and simultaneously destroy the interaction force between dopamine aggregations so that the modified layer could equably form on the PA layer. PSPE significantly improved the hydrophilicity [the water contact angle (WCA) of S‐D‐3 is 25.3°] of the modified membrane. And, the smoother surface was noticed on the modified membrane. All of these endow the PSPE/dopamine modified membrane superb water flux (the maximum water flux is 51.86 L m−1 h−1 at 1.6 MPa and 25 °C) and impressive antifouling and anti‐adhesion properties to bovine serum albumin (BSA) (protein), sodium dodecyl sulfate (anionic surfactant), and dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (cationic surfactant) with salt retention was well maintained. Notably, in the BSA fouling test, nearly 100% of the flux recovery ratio was achieved. This method is promising to be employed in industrial scale‐up production. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48355. PSPE/dopamine modified membrane with higher water flux and better antifouling properties to surfactants and proteins.