A Study of the Structural Organization of the Surface Layer and the State of Water in Composite Ultrafiltration Membranes

Abstract

The structural organization of the surface (active) layer and the state of water in composite ultrafiltration membranes have been investigated by means of the methods of vibrational IR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Analysis of the shape of the absorption band of stretching vibrations of hydroxyl groups at ν = 3366.2 cm–1 with an asymmetry coefficient of ~1 and the activity of vibrations of methyl groups with ν = 2884.02 and 2942.35 cm—1 has demonstrated that the bulk supramolecular structure of a cellulose acetate layer of a dry sample is formed by two types of hydrogen bonds and dipole–dipole interactions of carbonyl groups. The interaction of macromolecules in the equatorial plane is formed by a lattice of hydrogen bonds of the (OH…O) type with participation of the only hydroxyl group of a pyranose ring in cellulose acetates. In the axial direction, the supramolecular structure is organized by hydrogen bonds between methine and carbonyl groups of the (CH…O=C) type and dipole interactions of coplanar ordered dipoles of (C=O) groups. The decrease in the intensity and the coefficient of asymmetry down to 0.81 of the absorption band of hydroxyl groups and the absorption band of methyl groups with frequencies ν = 2884.02–2942.35 cm–1 by 2.56 and 3.3 times in water-saturated samples occurs due to the destruction of the supramolecular structure and the reorganization of hydrogen bonds of active groups of cellulose acetate and water molecules blocking intermolecular interactions of the macromolecules. The manifestation of hydroxyl groups with frequencies of 3302.7 and 33 105 sh cm–1 and ν = 3600.6 and ν = 3598.8 sh cm–1 on the absorption band indicates the interaction of associated water molecules of the bound and capillary forms. The absence of the absorption band with ν = 873.53 cm–1 in the water-saturated sample is explained as an empirical indicator of the conformational transition of macromolecules into a linear form. Deconvolution of the endothermic peak on the DSC curve in the temperature range from 50 to 110°C into five Gaussians has demonstrated the multilevel structural organization of water molecules sorbed in pores and between macromolecules of the amorphous phase.