This review discusses the roles of anion exchange membrane (AEM) as a solid-state electrolyte in fuel cell and electrolyzer applications. It highlights the advancement of existing fabrication methods and emphasizes the importance of radiation grafting methods in improving the properties of AEM. The development of AEM has been focused on the improvement of its physicochemical properties, including ionic conductivity, ion exchange capacity, water uptake, swelling ratio, etc., and its thermo-mechano-chemical stability in high-pH and high-temperature conditions. Generally, the AEM radiation grafting processes are considered green synthesis because they are usually performed at room temperature and practically eliminated the use of catalysts and toxic solvents, yet the final products are homogeneous and high quality. The radiation grafting technique is capable of modifying the hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains to control the ionic properties of membrane as well as its water uptake and swelling ratio without scarifying its mechanical properties. Researchers also showed that the chemical stability of AEMs can be improved by grafting spacers onto base polymers. The effects of irradiation dose and dose rate on the performance of AEM were discussed. The long-term stability of membrane in alkaline solutions remains the main challenge to commercial use.

This paper investigates the selectivity of GMA-based-non-woven fabrics adsorbent towards copper ion (Cu) functionalized with several aliphatic amines. The aliphatic amines used in this study were ethylenediamine (EDA), diethylenetriamine (DETA), triethylenetetramine (TETA), and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA). The non-woven polyethylene/polypropylene fabrics (NWF) were grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) via pre-radiation grafting technique, followed by chemical functionalization with the aliphatic amine. To prepare the ion recognition polymer (IRP), the functionalized amine GMA-grafted-NWF sample was subjected to radiation crosslinking process along with the crosslinking agent, divinylbenzene (DVB), in the presence of Cu ion as a template in the matrix of the adsorbent. Functionalization with different aliphatic amine was carried out at different amine concentrations, grafting yield, reaction temperature, and reaction time to study the effect of different aliphatic amine onto amine density yield. At a concentration of 50% of amine and 50% of isopropanol, EDA, DETA, TETA, and TEPA had attained amine density around 5.12, 4.06, 3.04, and 2.56 mmol/g-ad, respectively. The amine density yield decreases further as the aliphatic amine chain grows longer. The experimental condition for amine functionalization process was fixed at 70% amine, 30% isopropanol, 60 °C for grafting temperature, and 2 h of grafting time for attaining 100% of grafting yield (Dg). The prepared adsorbents were characterized comprehensively in terms of structural and morphology with multiple analytical tools. An adsorptive removal and selectivity of Cu ion by the prepared adsorbent was investigated in a binary metal ion system. The IRP samples with a functional precursor of EDA, the smallest aliphatic amine had given the higher adsorption capacity and selectivity towards Cu ion. The selectivity of IRP samples reduces as the aliphatic amine chain grows longer, EDA to TEPA. However, IRP samples still exhibited remarkably higher selectivity in comparison to the amine immobilized GMA-g-NWF at similar adsorption experimental conditions. This observation indicates that IRP samples possess higher selectivity after incorporation of the ion recognition imprint technique via the radiation crosslinking process.

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In this paper, the adsorption performance of packed bed column with amine functionalized radiation-induced grafted fibers (AFF) for the removal of acid blue 80 (AB 80) was investigated. Pretreated banana fibers were grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) with the assistance of electron beam irradiation and subsequently functionalized with imidazole, which was used as the precursor of anionic dye adsorption. The effect of flow rate, bed height and inlet concentration on the breakthrough curves were analyzed in terms of AFF adsorption performance. The experiment revealed that the increase in bed height and inlet concentration promoted the adsorption efficacy, whereas reduction was observed when the flow rate increased. The highest bed capacity obtained was 194.45 mg/g at adsorption condition of 5 ml/min flow rate, 100 mg/l inlet concentration and 50 mm of bed height. In order to determine the optimum operational parameters, the data were collected via the experiment fitted into Yoon and Nelson, and Thomas and Bed Depth Service Time (BDST) mathematical models. At various conditions, Thomas model closely defined the behaviors of the breakthrough curves. The maximum adsorption capacity calculated from Yoon-Nelson and Thomas models increased with the increase in flow rate and inlet concentration. However, a reduction was observed with the increase in bed height. Meanwhile, the BDST model exhibited good agreement with the experimental data as well as high correlation coefficient value r 2 ~ 0.99, which indicated the validity of BSDT model for the column adsorption system with AFF. The experimental results attained had suggested that developed AFF is quite effective as a biosorbent for the removal of the dyes.

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