Abstract
Membrane fouling remains a major barrier to reliable and cost-effective water treatment, motivating surface engineering strategies that suppress foulant attachment while preserving permeability and selectivity. This review critically examines antifouling membrane design through a functional-group-centred framework, focusing on grafted monomers and polymer architectures that regulate interfacial hydration, charge, polarity, and steric interactions. Oxygen-, nitrogen-, sulfur-, phosphorus-containing, zwitterionic, and multifunctional chemistries are comparatively evaluated across organic fouling, biofouling, colloidal deposition, and scaling. The analysis demonstrates that antifouling performance is governed not only by functional group identity but also by grafting density, chain conformation and mobility, spatial uniformity, and anchoring stability. Oxygen-rich and zwitterionic interfaces suppress foulant attachment primarily through strong hydration, while nitrogen-containing chemistries offer tuneable charge and antimicrobial functionality. Sulfur- and phosphorus-containing groups provide additional hydration and ion-coordination capabilities. However, no single chemistry is universally optimal across feed conditions. Major barriers to translation include reliance on short-term single foulant testing, limited cyclic cleaning and ageing studies, and inadequate verification of long-term graft stability. Future research should therefore prioritise durable multifunctional interfaces, standardised testing under realistic conditions, scalable grafting routes, and data-driven optimisation of structure-property-performance relationships.
Keywords
functional-group engineering, membrane fouling mitigation, structure-property-performance relationships, surface graft polymerisation, water and wastewater treatment
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
12-1-2026
Article Number
104052
ISSN
00018686
Volume
358
Publication Title
Advances in Colloid and Interface Science
Publisher
Elsevier
School
School of Engineering / Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute / School of Medical and Health Sciences
Funding Information
The authors express their gratitude for the financial support provided by the Australian Research Council (DE220101043) to Dr. Masoumeh Zargar and the ARC PhD Scholarship for Mohadeseh Najafi.
Funding received from the Australian Research Council (ARC)
DE220101043
Administering Institution
Edith Cowan University
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Najafi, M., Farahbakhsh, J., Ghanbari, R., & Zargar, M. (2026). Harnessing surface chemistry: A comprehensive review on the role of functional groups in antifouling membrane design. Advances in Colloid and Interface Science, 358, Article 104052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2026.104052