Polyethersulfone membranes with integrated negatively-charged hydrogel of crosslinked poly
(acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) were prepared by a combination of a liquid phase inversion
process with photopolymerization and crosslinking of functional monomers included in the casting
solution. A designed experiment was conducted to select the optimal composition for preparing
membranes with a sufficient degree of swelling and ion exchange capacity. Scanning electron microscopy
images revealed an ultrafine hybrid structure with an interconnected network of submicron particles
embedded within the microporous polyethersulfone support. An intramembrane diffusion model was
used to describe kinetics of heavy metal sorption by these hydrogels and the calculated apparent
diffusion coefficients were 2–3 times larger than in commercial ion-exchange resins. Equilibrium
sorption of heavy metals was described using a semi-empirical Langmuir model.