20.500.12556/DKUM-93213 Water flow decrease of track-etched polyethylene terephthalate membranes Track-etched polyethylene terephthalate (TE-PET) membranes, characterized by their well-defined cylindrical pores and narrow pore size distribution, offer advantages in filtration applications but demonstrate a gradual decrease of water flux over time. In this work, we evaluate the performance of track-etched polyethylene terephthalate (TE-PET) membranes as microfilters in low-pressure cross-flow and dead-end filtration systems. Membranes with pore sizes between 0.2 and 2.5 μm and porosities of 0.2–20% were tested at different low pressures (0.02–10 bar). Monitoring water flux over time exhibited a significant reduction. This behaviour is attributed to polymer swelling within the pore walls due to the formation of a sol-gel film. Notably, this swelling is enhanced under dynamic flow conditions, with larger pores exhibiting more rapid and pronounced flux decline. When filtering organic solvents, the flux drop is less pronounced and depends on their viscosity and polarity. Surface characterization by atomic force microscopy further confirmed morphological changes in TE-PET support after water filtration. Additional contributing factors, such as fouling and compaction, are also discussed. track-etched support polyethylene terephthalate water filtration swelling sol-gel film carbon nanomembrane polietilen tereftalat filtracija vode ogljikova nanomembrana true true false Elsevier B.V. Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376738825006076?via%3Di © 2025 The Authors Članek v reviji 2025-06-13 09:12:18 2025-06-13 09:12:18 2025-06-14 03:08:46 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 26 str. [article no. 124294124294 Available online 4 June 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 2025-05-23 2025-06-01 2025-06-04 620.3 238552323 10.1016/j.memsci.2025.124294 1873-3123 1-s2.0-S0376738825006076-main.pdf 1-s2.0-S0376738825006076-main.pdf 1 74F25C17445A6AC51869E6A221B09437 2e04fb02c72aca69327780d86cabd9a2a104e5be97ee35de110b8ddc983ebd4c 9c375a85-4827-11f0-9652-00155d000105 https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=192155 Fakulteta za kemijo in kemijsko tehnologijo 0 0 0