We investigated the suitability of homopolymer with UCST characteristics as draw solutes for the FO process for the first time.

Abstract:We synthesized a series of plant-based and renewable, eugenol-modified polystyrene (PEUG#) (# = 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100, in which # is the molar content of the eugenol moiety in the side group). Eugenol is extracted from clove oil. We used polymer modification reactions to determine the liquid crystal (LC) orientation properties of the polymer films. In general, the LC cells fabricated using the polymer films with a higher molar content of eugenol side groups exhibited vertical LC orientation behavior. The vertical orientation behavior was well correlated with the surface energy value of the polymer films. The vertical LC orientation could be formed due to the low polar surface energy value on the polymer film generated by the nonpolar carbon group. Electro-optical performances (e.g., voltage holding ratio (VHR), residual DC voltage (R-DC), and thermal orientation stabilities) were good enough to be observed for LC cells using PEUG100 polymer as an eco-friendly LC orientation material.

The liquid crystal (LC) alignment behavior on plant-based capsaicin substituted polystyrene film was investigated. This can give the basic idea for the design of eco-friendly LC alignment layer based on renewable resource containing polymer film.

A poly(ionic liquid) having lower critical solution temperature characteristics was synthesized to investigate its suitability as a draw solute for forward osmosis.