Articolo in rivista, 2020, ENG, 10.3390/membranes10090246

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

E. Gukelberger, C. Hitzel, R. Mancuso, F. Galiano, M. D. L. Bruno, R. Simonutti, B. Gabriele, A. Figoli, J. Hoinkis

Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy Center of Applied Research (CAR), Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council (ITM-CNR), 87036 Rende (CS), Italy; Department of Physics, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy; Department of Materials Science, University of Milan-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy

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 dierent 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.

Membranes (Basel) 10

Keywords

viscosity modification, polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsion, controlled radical polymerization, membrane coating, wastewater treatment

CNR authors

Figoli Alberto, Galiano Francesco

CNR institutes

ITM – Istituto per la tecnologia delle membrane

ID: 431724

Year: 2020

Type: Articolo in rivista

Creation: 2020-09-21 16:22:41.000

Last update: 2023-03-12 08:00:44.000

External IDs

CNR OAI-PMH: oai:it.cnr:prodotti:431724

DOI: 10.3390/membranes10090246