Preparation of polydimethylsiloxane/polystyrene interpenetrating polymer network membranes and permeation of aqueous ethanol solutions through the membranes by pervaporation

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/polystyrene (PSt) interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) membranes were prepared by the bulk copolymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene in the PDMS networks. The interpenetration of PDMS and PSt resulted in the improvement of mechanical properties of PDMS. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation demonstrated that the PDMS/PSt IPN membranes have microphase-separated structures consisting of a continuous PDMS phase and a discontinuous PSt phase. When an aqueous ethanol solution was permeated through the PDMS/PSt IPN membranes by pervaporation, the PDMS/PSt IPN membranes exhibited ethanol permselectivity, regardless of the PDMS content. The effects of their microphase-separated structures on the permeability and selectivity for aqueous ethanol solutions are discussed experimentally and theoretically. 0 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Influence of Polystyrene on PDMS IPNs Blend Membrane Performance

“…13 where the membrane area, A (m 2 ) ¼ 6.36 Â 10 À3 m 2 . The permeation rate (J) at steady state was calculated using the expression (7,8):…”

“…Saam and Fearon (6) reported the first PDMS=PS block copolymers by polymerizing hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane with ''living'' polystyrene prepared from an alkyllithium and investigated its mechanical and morphological properties. Miyata (7) and Liang (8) synthesized PDMS=PSt interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) pervaporation membranes for ethanol-water mixtures. The PDMS-PSt IPNs membranes were prepared via the sequential IPNs technique used the bulk copolymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene in the PDMS networks.…”

“…All the PDMS=PSt IPNs membranes had a microphase-separated structure in which PS domains exist in a continuous PDMS phase. The effects of their microphase-separated structures on the permeability and selectivity for aqueous ethanol solutions (7,8) through their membranes by pervaporation.…”

Effects of Morphology of Multicomponent Polymer Membranes Containing Calixarene on Permselective Removal of Benzene from a Dilute Aqueous Solution of Benzene

“…We previously reported [11][12][13][14][17][18][19] that the morphology of microphase-separated multicomponent polymer membranes significantly influenced the permeation and separation of organic liquid mixtures by PV. In the selective removal of benzene from water, the continuity of the PDMS phase in the PMMA-g-PDMS membranes played a particularly important role.…”

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] We have reported the relationship between the structure of multicomponent polymer membranes containing poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and vinyl polymers such as poly(methyl metacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(styrene) (PSt) and their permselectivity for aqueous ethanol solutions during PV. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The permeability and permselectivity of the multicomponent polymer membranes depended on the morphology of their microphaseseparated structure. Further studies 19 revealed that the microphase separation in graft copolymer (PMMA-g-PDMS) membranes prepared from PMMA and PDMS significantly influenced their permeability and permselectivity for the removal of VOCs from a dilute aqueous solution of VOCs and that a continuous PDMS phase in the microphase-separated structure played an important role in the selective removal of VOCs.…”