Polyvinylidenedifluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene -PVDF-CTFE- is a commercial fluoropolymer that presents high hydrophobicity, excellent mechanical strength, and good chemical and thermal resistance. There are two main phase separation methods to fabricate polymeric membranes. In spite of the advantages of the TIPS method, it has not reported any attempt to fabricate PVDF-CTFE membrane by TIPS method either in flat-sheet or hollow fiber geometry. In this study, we attempted to prepare a hollow fiber membrane using TIPS method with different diluents to achieve a bicontinuous structure. We measured the mechanical properties, rejection and the pure water permeability of prepared membranes. As a result, it was found that there was a trade-off between the permeability and mechanical strength. To evaluate the membrane performance, we studied the trade-off relationship between the water permeability and mechanical strength of membranes prepared by different diluent compositions.

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