Fractal morphology in porous membranes: A small-angle X-Ray scattering investigation

This paper reports the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) study and flow- rate measurements of semipermeable porous polysulfone (PS) and sulfonated polycarbonate-doped polysulfone (SPC-PS) membranes. Flow rates of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, and polyethylene glycol solutions through these membranes have been measured. For all the solutions, the flux through the SPC-PS membrane was found to be close to 1.65 times that through the PS membrane. SAXS measurements show that the pore morphologies of two membranes are mass fractal in nature with different fractal dimensions. The difference in flow rates through these membranes is explained in terms of porosity and fractal dimension.