Surface engineering of a pervaporation desulfurization membrane with crack structures by the self‐condensation of silane coupling agent.

In this article, the 3‐methacryloxypropyltrimethoxy silane (KH570) was deposited onto the surface of the polyurethane (PU) membrane to prepare pervaporation (PV) desulfurization membrane. The modified membrane was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrum, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscope and so forth. After modification, the surface exhibited a special morphology with cracks which was micro‐controlled by adjusting the hydrolysis time, the concentration and the deposition time of KH570. Through the PV performance of the modified membrane, it was found that the surface morphology with cracks effectively reduced the mass transfer resistance and enlarged contact area, which played a key role in the increase of flux. Under the optimal modification conditions, the flux of the membrane was 2.41 kg m−2 h−1, which increased by 154% in comparison with the pristine PU membrane, while the enrichment factor maintained a satisfactory level of 7.35. Therefore, this study provided a new insight to fabricate a high performance PV desulfurization membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]