Membrane preparation via interfacial polymerization: development of ionic liquid based systems and advanced characterization tools

A new set of thin film composite (TFC) membranes has recently been developed at COK for use in reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and solvent resistant nanofiltration. They are all based on interfacial polymerization (IFP) where 2 immiscible liquids (typically hexane and water) which each contain 1 type of reagent, are contacted at the membrane surface (by soaking the support layer in one of them and pooring the other reagent phase on top of it). The TFC membranes are prepared by using novel monomer types (e.g. to modify hydrophilicity), preparation processes (e.g. IFP prior to support formation), reaction types (e.g. Click chemistry), or solvent phases (ionic liquids as one of the reagent phases). Availability of such unique, broad set of new membrane materials will allow to challenge several hypotheses that are currently existing with respect to IFP, related to membrane formation mechanism, morphology and performance. For this purpose, advanced characterization techniques will be customized for the study and further optimization of these membranes: fluorescent and transmission microscopy, microfluidics based techniques, broadband dielectric spectroscopy, elastic recoil detection and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. The system that involves ionic liquids as reaction phase will be further optimised as well. This will provide ample sets of membranes with systematically changed parameters for characterisations.

Keywords:membrane

Disciplines:Analytical chemistry, Macromolecular and materials chemistry