HOLLOW FIBRES

摘要

Elongate hollow fibre polymeric membranes have an outer surface, a plurality of pores and a pore size gradient increasing radially inwardly such that the pores form a substantially hollow passage in the fibre. The hollow fiber membranes are made by mixing a liquid lumen forming agent with a polymer dope, and then contacting the dope with a quench fluid for a time sufficient for the dope to solidify, wherein the quench fluid is contacted only at an outer surface of the dope corresponding with an outer surface of the hollow fibre. In especially preferred embodiments, the hollow fibre polymeric membranes have an outer surface formed at a dope/non-solvent interface of a diffusion induced phase separation (DIPS) process and an inner lumen formed by convergence of membrane pores about a hydrophobic liquid lumen-forming agent.