I am also looking forward to see potential answers to this query.

Dear mehdi

Actually I love the questions dealing with the nanofibers :)

The followings are my total remarks based on the experiences I achieved during the past couple of years. Prior to answer to your question there is a necessity to know that:

1. Regardless of the type of polymer [either hydrophilic or hydrophobic], the produced electrospun mats have a hydrophobic nature. This is mainly due to random deposition of the fibres over the collector that increases the surface roughness and hydrophobicity as the result. However, this should not intimidate you, since the very porous structure of the fibres pave the way for easy transportation of the liquid among them. Hence, at this stage every type of polymer might be used as the precursor material. The literature says that polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polysulfone (PSf), polyethersulfone (PES), polyvinylidenefloride (PVDF), and polyetherimide (PEI) might be very promising. Based on my own experience, PAN and PVDF are better candidates since their spinning is convenient and they produce beadles fibres. One important thing you should take into account is that you should be specially vigilant about producing nanofibers (with the diameters less than 400 nm) with manipulating dope concentration, voltage, distance, etc.

What I want to say is that your most important task is post spinning task. You will require a hot press in order to convert as-spun fibres to a self standing, membrane-like sheet. Only at this stage you might have reached to a microfiltration (MF) membrane.

2. Since you are dealing with the organic matter suspended or partially dissolved in water, you need to prevent bio fouling intermittently occur on the surface of the any type of submerged membrane. In this regard, the hydrophobicity of the membrane may show its face as a daunting task and you need to think of it. Again based on my own experience, the method you are choosing to make your nanofibrous membrane hydrophilic MUST be feasible and easy to perform. There are myriad of works proposing methods for increasing the hydrophilicity. However, I give you a piece of advice to use TiO2 nanoparticles or nanotubes as the additives to your dope solution, for example you should electrospin TiO2 and PAN. the results may be stunning and I dont think any body has attempted to use such conformation for MBR yet. This will help you to publish in a highly prestigious journal. I hope you find my explanation useful.

Regards

Aref

Dear Aref

Thank you for your answer, it was really helpful.

You are most welcome bro :)