Viscosity Modification of Polymerizable Bicontinuous Microemulsion by Controlled Radical Polymerization for Membrane Coating Applications

Abstract

Membrane modification is becoming ever more relevant for mitigating fouling phenomena within wastewater treatment applications. Past research included a novel low-fouling coating using polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) induced by UV-LED polymerization. This additional cover layer deteriorated the filtration capacity significantly, potentially due to the observed high pore intrusion of the liquid PBM prior to the casting process. Therefore, this work addressed an innovative experimental protocol for controlling the viscosity of polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsions (PBM) before casting on commercial ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. Prior to the coating procedure, the PBM viscosity modulation was carried out by controlled radical polymerization (CRP). The regulation was conducted by introducing the radical inhibitor 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl after a certain time (CRP time). The ensuing controlled radical polymerized PBM (CRP-PBM) showed a higher viscosity than the original unpolymerized PBM, as confirmed by rheological measurements. Nevertheless, the resulting CRP-PBM-cast membranes had a lower permeability in water filtration experiments despite a higher viscosity and potentially lower pore intrusion. This result is due to different polymeric structures of the differently polymerized PBM, as confirmed by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) investigations. The findings can be useful for future developments in the membrane science field for production of specific membrane-coating layers for diverse applications.

Study on UF PES Membranes Spray-Coated with Polymerizable Bicontinuous Microemulsion Materials for Low-Fouling Behavior

“…Moreover, the polymerized PBM coating significantly reduces the fouling propensity of commercially available PES membranes, as verified via scanning electron microscopy [20]. Galiano et al [21], Deowan et al [20], and Gukelberger et al [22] have extensively studied the PBM membrane coatings resulting from redox-induced PBM polymerization. Moreover, photo-initiated UV-LED polymerization of PBM was also investigated by Galiano and Schmidt et al [23], where the curing time of PBM could be reduced to 30 s.…”

Microemulsions: Unique Properties, Pharmacological Applications, and Targeted Drug Delivery

“…The characterization techniques of microemulsions generally probe in at the macroscopic level, and microemulsions are generally evaluated at the macroscopic level via viscosity, conductivity, and dielectric measurement methods. The viscosity measurements probe in the micellar structure (Gukelberger et al, 2020;Majolino et al, 1990), the composition of emulsion is determined by conductivity measurements (Laguës & Sauterey, 1980;Pereira et al, 2016), and both the dynamic and detailed structural features of the emulsions are elucidated by dielectric measurements (Lian & Zhao, 2011;Weber & Stühn, 2016). On the other hand, at the microscopic level, the optical clarity and isotropic nature of the emulsions are determined by spectroscopic techniques (Gao et al, 2006;Paul & Panda, 2014).…”