Abstract
Ion exchange membranes are used in practically every industry; however, most of them have defects such as low permeability and poor oxidation resistance. In this paper, cation-exchange membranes were prepared with poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) blended with nano-SiO2, nano-Al2O3 and nano-ZnO. Sulfonic acid groups were injected into the membrane prepared by styrene grafting and sulfonation. The methods used for characterizing the prepared membranes were Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemical measurements. Membrane performance, such as the ion exchange capacity (IEC), water uptake (WU), transport number, membrane permselectivity, membrane resistance, functional groups, and morphology were also evaluated. The hydrophilia, IEC, and permselectivity of cation-exchange membranes depended on the nanoparticle content of the membrane matrix. High transport property values were obtained, which increased with increasing nano-SiO2/Al2O3/ZnO weight fractions. Finally, the cation-exchange membranes prepared with 1.5% nano-SiO2, 2.0% nano-Al2O3 or 2.0% nano-ZnO all exhibited excellent membrane properties, including membrane permselectivity (PVDF/2% ZnO-g-PSSA membranes, 94.9%), IEC (PVDF/2% Al2O3-g-PSSA membranes, 2.735 mmol·g−1), and oxidation resistance (PVDF/1.5% SiO2-g-PSSA membranes, 2.33%). They can be used to separate applications in a variety of different areas, such as water treatment, electro-driven separation, heavy metal smelting, or other electrochemical processes.
Highlights
Separation processes based on membranes are used in the most advanced industry processes, such as wastewater treatment and membrane electrode position processes [1,2,3]
Cation-exchange membranes based on PVDF were prepared with different contents of nano-SiO2 /Al2 O3 /ZnO
Cation-exchange membranes based on PVDF were prepared with different contents of SiO2 /Al2 O3 /ZnO nanoparticles using a blending method, and sulfonic acid groups were introduced to the prepared membrane by grafting and a sulfonation reaction
Summary
Separation processes based on membranes are used in the most advanced industry processes, such as wastewater treatment and membrane electrode position processes [1,2,3]. For practical applications and academic research, the development of low cost and high-selectivity cation exchange membranes with simple preparation methods is essential. Polymers such as PVDF have excellent properties such as a high thermal stability, good chemical resistance, radiation resistance, good membrane formation, and low cost, and are widely used as a base material for the preparation of IEMs [13,14,15]. The influence of the SiO2 , Al2 O3 and ZnO weight fractions on the properties of these membranes (i.e., selective permeability, antioxidant properties, ion exchange capacity (IEC), membrane conductivity, and water uptake (WU) was extensively studied
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