Ionic liquids as self-assembly guide for the formation of nanostructured block copolymer membranes

by P. Madhavan, R. Sougrat, A.R. Behzad, K.-V. Peinemann, S.P. Nunes
Year: 2015 ISSN: DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2015.04.036

Bibliography

Ionic liquids as self-assembly guide for the formation of nanostructured block copolymer membranes
P. Madhavan, R. Sougrat, A.R. Behzad, K.-V. Peinemann, S.P. Nunes
Journal of Membrane Science, Volume 492, Pages 568–577, (2015)

Abstract

Pub_2015_ILS

Nanostructured block copolymer membranes were manufactured by water induced phase inversion, using ionic liquids (ILs) as cosolvents. The effect of ionic liquids on the morphology was investigated, by using polystyrene-b-poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-PV4P) diblock as membrane copolymer matrix and imidazolium and pyridinium based ILs. The effect of IL concentration and chemical composition was evident with particular interaction with P4VP blocks. The order of block copolymer/ILs solutions previous to the membrane casting was confirmed by cryo scanning electron microscopy and the morphologies of the manufactured nanostructured membranes were characterized by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Non-protic ionic liquids facilitate the formation of hexagonal nanoporous block copolymer structure, while protic ILs led to a lamella-structured membrane. The rheology of the IL/block copolymer solutions was investigated, evaluating the storage and loss moduli. Most membranes prepared with ionic liquid had higher water flux than pure block copolymer membranes without additives.

Keywords

ionic liquid PS-b-P4VP Self-assembly Phase separation Nanostructured membrane