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ABSTRACT A braid-reinforced hollow fiber membrane with mechanically stable coating layer was prepared by coating a blended polymer dope solution on an alkaline-treated poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) braid. The alkaline treatment was carried out to endow the PET braid surface with more polar groups and better hydrophilicity. The results showed that the bonding strength between the hydrophilic coating layer and modified PET braid was about two times as great as that between the coating layer and original PET braid, while the pure water permeability (PWP) of the membrane remained unchanged when the PET braid was simply treated in 3 wt % potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution at 90 °C for 1 h or 1 wt % KOH solution for 6 h. The proposed modification approach proved to be a facile, low-cost, and effective method to improve bonding strength between the coating layer and the braid, while other properties, such as PWP and morphology of the coating layer, of the braid-reinforced hollow fiber membranes were not altered, indicating promising potential in membrane engineering. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46104 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes with a polydopamine (PDA) coating for photocatalytic membrane reactor application with appropriate UV resistance and studied the effects of the PDA coating conditions (i.e., coating time and dopamine concentration) and UV irradiation time on the modified PVDF membrane properties. The PVDF membrane that was surface‐coated with the appropriate dopamine solution concentration and coating time played a key role in controlling the membrane properties and in protecting the modified membrane against UV radiation. The optimization of the coating condition not only completely protected the modified membrane from free‐radical attack initiated through UV irradiation but also improved the membrane hydrophilicity, antifouling properties, filtration performance, and mechanical strength of the membrane. UV irradiation of the membrane that was surface‐coated with a high‐concentration dopamine solution for a long coating time resulted in a higher mechanical strength than that of the membrane without the application of UV irradiation. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47312. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]