Multifunctional Membranes for Solvent Resistant Nanofiltration and Pervaporation Applications Based on Segmented Polymer Networks

Abstract

Hydrophilic bis(acrylate)-terminated poly(ethylene oxide) was used as macromolecular cross-linker of different hydrophobic polyacrylates for the synthesis of amphiphilic segmented polymer networks (SPNs). Multifunctional composite membranes with thin SPN toplayers were prepared by in situ polymerization. As the support consisted of hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile, the high chemical resistance of the composite membrane allowed applications of the SPN-based membranes in solvent-resistant nanofiltration (SRNF) and pervaporation (PV). The membranes show very high retention on Rose Bengal (RB) in different solvents, especially in strong swelling solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF) and dimethylformamide (DMF). The membranes were also tested in pervaporation for dehydration of ethanol and isopropanol (IPA). The selectivity of the membranes greatly depends on the composition or the ratio of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic phases of the SPN.