Self-assembly in casting solutions of block copolymer membranes

Type
Article
Authors
Marques, Debora S.
Vainio, Ulla
Moreno Chaparro, Nicolas cc
Calo, Victor M. cc
Bezahd, Ali Reza
Pitera, Jed W.
Peinemann, Klaus cc
Nunes, Suzana Pereira cc
KAUST Department
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)
Earth Science and Engineering Program
Numerical Porous Media SRI Center (NumPor)
Advanced Nanofabrication, Imaging and Characterization Core Lab
Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research Center
Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE) Division
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Materials Science and Engineering Program
Nanostructured Polymeric Membrane Lab
Date
2013

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Abstract
Membranes with exceptional pore regularity and high porosity were obtained from block copolymer solutions. We demonstrate by small-angle X-ray scattering that the order which gives rise to the pore morphology is already incipient in the casting solution. Hexagonal order was confirmed in PS-b-P4VP 175k-b-65k solutions in DMF/THF/dioxane with concentrations as high as 24 wt%, while lamellar structures were obtained in more concentrated solutions in DMF or DMF/dioxane. The change in order has been understood with the support of dissipative particle dynamic modeling. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Sponsors
We thank the German Synchrotron (DESY) for the beam time. The work was supported by the KAUST Geometric Modeling and Scientific Visualization Collaborative Award, "Visualization and Pore Tuning of Asymmetric Membranes" and KAUST-IBM Program "Simulation of pore formation in membranes by self-assembly". We also thank N. Pradeep and M. Karunakaran for their previous work on this topic and help in the initial stage of membrane preparation.
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Journal
Soft Matter
ISSN
1744683X
DOI
10.1039/c3sm27475f
Handle URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/562500
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