The hydrophilic modification of a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) microfiltration membrane via pre-treatment with argon plasma and direct surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) was studied. Both modified and unmodified PVDF membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), water contact angle, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and pore size distribution measurements. FTIR and XPS spectra confirmed that sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) had been grafted onto the membrane surface. The initial contact angle decreased from 87.0 degrees to 29.8 degrees and a water drop penetrated into the modified membrane completely in 8s. The pore size distribution of the modified membrane exhibited a smaller mean value than that of the original membrane. The antifouling properties of the modified PVDF membrane were evaluated by a filtration test using bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. The results showed that the initial flux of the modified membrane increased from 2140.1 L/m(2) h to 2812.7 L/m(2) h and the equilibrium flux of BSA solution increased from 31 L/m(2) h to 53 L/m(2) h. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.