Interplay of mass transfer, phase separation, and membrane morphology in vapor-induced phase separation

Understanding the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) effect during the fabrication of microporous PVDF membranes via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS)

“…It is known that the bicontinuous structure results from spinodal decomposition and delayed demixing is considered as one of the ways to achieve a bicontinuous structure [24]. However, spinodal decomposition via fast penetration through the binodal region has been reported to also yield a bicontinuous morphology [57,58]. Understandably, this phenomenon is observed when the intrinsic mutual diffusion is very fast, which is the case with a higher T CB .…”

Surface anti-biofouling control of PEGylated poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes via vapor-induced phase separation processing

“…Therefore, the temperature of the VIPS chamber was maintained to 3072 1C. This is an average value since some works mention the preparation of membranes by VIPS at lower or higher temperatures for similar relative humidity [37,38]. However, in this particular study, the other parameters were considered in the same time so that 30 1C appeared to be a suitable value.…”

Influence of solvent composition and non-solvent activity on the crystalline morphology of PVDF membranes prepared by VIPS process and on their arising mechanical properties

“…This can be achieved by carefully choosing and controlling the formulation parameters as well as the VIPS testing conditions. By surveying literature, one will find that the essential parameters influencing the morphology of membranes prepared by VIPS are the casting solution composition and polymer concentration [10,11], the temperature of dissolution of polymer [9], the nonsolvent activity [12][13][14] and the exposure time to nonsolvent vapors [15][16][17]. Concerning more specifically the preparation of PVDF membranes by VIPS processing (and not combined to another process), less than ten studies have already been performed, most of them over the past three years, so that the knowledge of their formation remains incomplete [4,[7][8][9][18][19][20][21][22].…”