Hydrophilic polyethersulfone nanofiber membrane produced through coaxial electrospinning with polyvinyl alcohol

 Recently, the development of high performance water treatment filters has become a critical challenge for securing high quality water resources, such as drinking water purification, seawater desalination, and industrial wastewater treatment. Among various filter development techniques, electrospun nanofibers offer a high surface to volume ratio and abundant porosity, which enhance filtration efficiency. However, hydrophobic polymer nanofibers have critical disadvantages, including low water permeability and high susceptibility to membrane fouling, which degrade long term filtration performance. In this study, open structured hollow nanofiber membranes were fabricated by applying hydrothermal treatment to coaxial electrospun PVA (polyvinylalcohol)/PES (polyethersulfone) fiber membranes. The morphological, structural, and mechanical properties of the fabricated nanofiber membranes were characterized, along with measurements of hydrophilicity, pore size, water permeability, and filtration efficiency. It was confirmed that the open structured hollow nanofiber membranes exhibited superior hydrophilicity and water permeability compared to PES nanofiber membranes and have significant potential for future applications as high performance water treatment filters.

This work was supported by Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) grant funded by the Korea Government(MOTIE) (25532420, HRD Program for Industrial Innovation) and Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) grant funded by the MOTIE (RS 2025 14432968, R&D and Infrastructure of advanced medical textile).