Abstract
In this paper, novel polyimide/cellulose/TiO2 bionanocomposites (PI/BNCs) were prepared via a simple and inexpensive ultrasonic irradiation process. PI was synthesized by direct polycondensation reaction of novel monomer dianhydride with 4-(2-(4-aminophenyl)-1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-yl)benzenamine. Due to the high surface energy and tendency for agglomeration the surface of nanoparticles was modified with cellulose. PI/BNCs containing 5, 10, and 15% of cellulose/TiO2 (BNCs) were successfully fabricated through ultrasonic irradiation technique. The obtained PI/BNCs were characterized by Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry analysis, X-ray powder diffraction, field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thermogravimetric analysis data indicated an increase thermal stability of the PI/BNC polymers in compared to the pure polymer. From TEM image of PI/BNCs it can be found that the surface modified TiO2 with diametric size of less than 50nm, uniformly dispersed in the obtained PI matrix. The results obtained from gas permeation experiments with a constant pressure setup indicated that adding cellulose/TiO2 to the polymeric membrane structure increased the permeability of the membranes.
Highlights
Bionanocomposites as a promising class of hybrid materials are derived from natural and synthetic polymers and organic–inorganic fillers at the nanoscale [1,2,3]
The cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) used in this study were provided by the Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products (INTROP), Malaysia, and were isolated from the kenaf bast fibers (Hibiscus cannabinus)
The number average molecular weight (Mn), weight average molar weight (Mw) and polydispersity index (PDI) of the synthesized polymer was further supported by Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) measurements
Summary
Bionanocomposites as a promising class of hybrid materials are derived from natural and synthetic polymers and organic–inorganic fillers at the nanoscale [1,2,3]. The NC membranes composed of incorporated nanoparticle (NP) fillers into a polymer matrix are of promising strategies for overcoming the limit of the Robeson upper bound [27,28,29,30,31,32] They could combine the outstanding properties of incorporated NPs and processability of the base polymers. Compared to the conventional microwave method, the ultrasound method has attracted a great attention because it sharply reduces the overall processing time, increases the product yield and improves the quality of the product [45,46,47] In this present investigation, in order to obtain solutionprocessable PI and PI/BNCs bionanohybrid films with higher Tg and enhanced gas separation properties, we designed and synthesized a novel PI and PI/BNC membranes derived from new dianhydride monomer. The resulting novel PI/BNCs are characterized by several techniques
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