Abstract
A new type of hybrid polymeric-based film containing 1-(1,3-diethoxy-1,3-dioxopropan-2-ylo)-3-methylimidazolium bromide (RIL1_Br) and 1-(2-etoxy-2-oxoethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bromide (RIL2_Br) reactive ionic liquids was elaborated. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based films with 9–33 wt % of RILs were subsequently characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and TGA-FTIR. PVA-RIL films were also studied in tensile tests, contact angle and sorption measurements. RIL incorporation enhanced thermal and mechanical stability of PVA membranes due to the hydrogen bonds between RILs and polymer chains. Membrane swelling behavior in water (H2O), ethanol (EtOH), and propan-2-ol (IPA) and the kinetics of water sorption process revealed that PVA-RILs membranes possess the highest affinity towards water. It was pointed out that both the RIL type and the RIL amount in the polymer matrix have significant influence on the membrane swelling behavior and the water sorption kinetics.
Highlights
Membrane-based technology has been playing a significant role in pervaporation [1,2,3,4] and gas separation process [5,6,7,8,9] due to its numerous advantages
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based membranes incorporated with ester-functionalized imidazolium-based reactive ionic liquids (RILs) were successfully elaborated by dry phase inversion method
It was found that the thermal and mechanical stability of PVA membranes was enhanced after the incorporation of RILs due to the hydrogen bonding between PVA chains and
Summary
Membrane-based technology has been playing a significant role in pervaporation [1,2,3,4] and gas separation process [5,6,7,8,9] due to its numerous advantages. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is indicated as one of the most versatile polymers used for the elaboration of membranes selective towards CO2 (for gas separation) and hydrophilic compounds (for pervaporation). Polymer membranes usually show the trade-off between selectivity and permeability, resulting in their separation performances under the Robeson upper bound curve [10]. Many researchers have been working on the modification of PVA-based membranes for gas separation processes to improve simultaneously their selectivity and permeability, namely, to break the trade-off relationship of PVA membranes [7,8,11,12]. PVA polymers have been widely studied in the dehydration using pervaporation process owing to the excellent PVA hydrophilicity resulting from the presence of the hydroxyl groups in the polymer structure.
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