A novelrandomterpolymerpoly(methylacryloxyethyldimethylbenzylammoniumchloride-r-acryl-
amide-r-2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate)(P(MDBAC-r-Am-r-HEMA)) wassynthesizedviafreeradical
polymerization andusedasthecoatingmaterialonthepolyamidethin film composite(TFC)reverse
osmosis (RO)membranetoimproveitschlorineresistanceandantifoulingperformance.Thechlorine
resistance ofthemembraneswasevaluatedbycross-flow filtration oftheNaClOsolution.Antifouling
performance wasevaluatedbycross-flow filtration oftheproteinsolutionandcell-cultureexperiments.
The membranesurfacewasanalyzedviaATR-FTIR,XPS,SEMandstreamingpotentialmeasurements.
The coatedmembranecantoleratechlorineexposureover16,000ppmh,whichis7–10timesthe
pristine membrane.Thebacteriagrowthcanbesignificantly depressedonthecoatedmembranesur-
face. Thecoatedmembranecanretainits flux verywellunderprotein filtration. Itisbelievedthatthe
surface coatinglayerworksasaprotectiveandsacrificial layer,preventingtheattackofchlorineonthe
underlyingpolyamide film. ThePMDBACandPAmcomponentsareessentialtotheantimicrobial
property andtheimprovedsurfacehydrophilicityisbeneficial totheantifoulingperformanceofthe
membrane. ThecoatedmembraneofferspotentialuseasanovelROmembranewithimproved
antifouling performanceandchlorineresistance.