Abstract
Recently, there has been increased interest in self-healing membranes containing functional microcapsules in relation to challenges involving water treatment membranes. In this study, a self-healing membrane has been prepared by incorporating microcapsules with a polyurethane (PU) shell and a diisocyanate core in a poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membrane. Depending on the characteristics of the microcapsule, to precisely quantify the self-healing behavior and performance of the produced microcapsule embedded membranes, it is important to understand the effect of a used surfactant on microcapsule synthesis. It is noteworthy that mixed surfactants have been employed to control and tailor the size and morphology of microcapsules during the synthetic process, and the surfactant system employed was one of the most dominant parameters for affecting the healing capability of microcapsule embedded membranes. Various techniques including microscopy (optical and electron), thermal analyses (DSC and TGA), and water flux measurements have been employed. This article provides essential and important information for future research into the subtle relation between microcapsule properties with varied synthetic parameters and the self-healing behavior of membrane.
Highlights
Most natural systems such as human skin and tissue, the organs of plants, and bodies of marine animals inherently possess a “self-healing” mechanism
Microcapsules containing healant are embedded in a polymer matrix
This study provides a chance to observe an important phenomenon that is overlooked, and provides essential information for the performance improvement of versatile PU
Summary
Most natural systems such as human skin and tissue, the organs of plants, and bodies of marine animals inherently possess a “self-healing” mechanism. The presence of a dynamic structure and system, which can react upon the arrival of external stimuli, is one of the most important prerequisites for self-healing [1] This self-healing mechanism has been popularly introduced into polymeric membranes, which are widely used in water treatment [2]. The concept has been widely explored in relation to the production of self-healing materials [13,14,15] In this approach, microcapsules containing healant are embedded in a polymer matrix. The application of a stimuli to the entire material disrupts the shell of microcapsules and causes it to release the healant that restores damage This is quite a challenging task, even if the concept seems both straightforward and simple, because the microcapsules must be sufficiently small and stable under harsh conditions such as stress, shear flow, and the occasional existence of toxic chemicals. This study provides a chance to observe an important phenomenon that is overlooked, and provides essential information for the performance improvement of versatile PU microcapsule embedded self-healing membranes
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