Polyolefinic membranes have attracted a great deal of interest owing to their ease of processing and chemical inertness. In this study, porous polyolefin membranes were derived by selectively etching PEO from PE/PEO (polyethylene/poly­(ethylene oxide)) blends. The hydrophobic polyolefin (low density polyethylene) was treated with UV-ozone followed by dip coating in chitosan acetate solution to obtain a hydrophilic-antibacterial surface. The chitosan immobilized PE membranes were further characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS). It was found that surface grafting of chitosan onto PE membranes enhanced the surface roughness and the concentration of nitrogen (or amine) scaled with increasing concentration of chitosan (0.25 to 2% wt/vol), as inferred from Kjeldahl nitrogen analysis. The pure water flux was almost similar for chitosan immobilized PE membranes as compared to membranes without chitosan. The bacterial population, substantially reduced for membranes with higher concentration of chitosan. For instance, 90 and 94% reduction in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) colony forming unit respectively was observed with 2% wt/vol of chitosan. This study opens new avenues in designing polyolefinic based antibacterial membranes for water purification.

Carbon black conductive filler material, 2–40% by weight was added to specially designed polyurethane polymer to prepare shape memory polymer nanocomposites. The synthesised polyurethane (PU) has exhibited a high glass transition temperature of 85°C compared to the reported values in published literatures. The polymer was characterised for its chemical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. The stiffness, load-bearing capacity and electrical conductivity were observed to improve with increased carbon loading. It was found to be capable of responding to thermal as well as electrical stimuli. The shape recovery efficiency was found to be 94% for thermal and 98% for electrical stimuli which is among the highest for PU reported so far.

Polybenzimidazole (PBI) random co-polymers containing alicyclic and aromatic backbones were synthesized using two different dicarboxylic acids (viz., cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid and terephthalic acid) by varying their molar ratios.

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