Abstract
A novel cation-exchange membrane composed of a blend of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and sulfonated PVDF (S-PVDF) was synthesized. The membranes were prepared with different fractions of S-PVDF to optimize their performance in desalination. The ion-exchange capacity (IEC), transport number, apparent selectivity, ion conductivity, crystallinity, water uptake, contact angle, and performance in electrodialysis (ED) were evaluated. With increasing S-PVDF fractions, the transport number and permselectivity decreased, while the IEC and membrane conductivity increased. Finally, the salt extraction in ED obtained for a 70% S-PVDF membrane was 67.6%, which had a better performance than that of a commercial membrane. Also the membranes showed a good selectivity for bivalent cation removal. Membrane structure was evaluated by XRD and showed a decrease in ordering by increase in S-PVDF.
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