Preparation of Hyflon AD/Polypropylene Blend Membrane for Artificial Lung

A high-performance polypropylene hollow fiber membrane (PP-HFM) was prepared by using a binary environmentally friendly solvent of polypropylene as the raw material, adopting the thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method, and adjusting the raw material ratio. The binary diluents were soybean oil (SO) and acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC). The suitable SO/ATBC ratio of 7/3 was based on the size change of the L-L phase separation region in PP-SO/ATBC thermodynamic phase diagram. Through the characterization and comparison of the basic performance of PP-HFMs, it was found that with the increase of the diluent content in the raw materials, the micropores of outer surface of the PP-HFM became larger, and the cross section showed a sponge-like pore structure. The fluoropolymer, Hyflon ADx, was deposited on the outer surface of the hollow fiber membrane using a physical modification method of solution dipping. After modification, the surface pore size of the Hyflon AD40L modified membranes decreased; the contact angle increased to around 107°; the surface energy decreased to 17 mN·m^-1; and the surface roughness decreased to 17 nm. Hyflon AD40L/PP-HFMs also had more water resistance properties from the variation of wetting curve. For biocompatibility of the membrane, the adsorption capacity of the modified PP membrane for albumin decreased from approximately 1.2 mg·cm^-2 to 1.0 mg·cm^-2, and the adsorption of platelets decreased under fluorescence microscopy. The decrease in blood cells and protein adsorption in the blood prolonged the clotting time. In addition, the hemolysis rate of modified PP membrane was reduced to within the standard of 5%, and the cell survival rate of its precipitate was above 100%, which also indicated the excellent biocompatibility of fluoropolymer modified membrane. The improvement of hydrophobicity and blood compatibility makes Hyflon AD/PP-HFMs have the potential for application in membrane oxygenators.