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Polymers
Special Issues
Polymer Membranes for Separation
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Polymer Membranes for Separation

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Analysis and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 11593

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Tae-Hyun Kim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute of Basic Sciences, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, Korea
Interests: polymer membranes for gas separation; polymer membranes for energy applications (PEMFC/AEMFC/electrodialysis); polymer electrolytes for secondary battery applications; polymer binders for Si/S electrodes in LIBs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer membranes are used on a large scale in many separation processes. Applications for these membranes include the desalination of seawater, gas separation, the cleaning of industrial effluents, the fractionation of macro-molecular solutions in the food and drug industries, and the controlled release of drugs in medicine. Membrane separation is in many cases faster, more efficient, less energy-demanding, and thus more economical than conventional separation techniques.

Separation and/or purification processes may be categorized into the following three separate classes: (1) concentration-driven separation, represented by processes such as dialysis; (2) electro-membrane separation, used to separate dissolved charged ions; and (3) pressure-driven separation, which includes the more familiar processes of micro-/nano-/ultra-filtration and gas separation.

The concentration or pressure difference between two phases, the interaction/affinity between the matrix and penetrants, size and solubility differences of various penetrants, and porosity and chain-orientation of the polymer matrix are some key parameters of efficient performance through semi-permeable separation membranes (depending on the separation process to be used). Therefore, it is very challenging to develop an appropriate polymer membrane with highly efficient performance for the specific applications mentioned above.

Of course, the thermo-chemical and mechanical stability of the polymer membrane are the most important criteria that should be ensured for stable performance under the challenging conditions in real industrial applications.

The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight the progress and fundamental aspects of the synthesis, characterization, properties, and application of polymer membranes in various separation activities.

Prof. Tae-Hyun Kim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Polymer synthesis
  • Blend polymer membranes
  • Copolymer membranes
  • Mixed matrix membranes
  • Gas separation
  • Pervaporation
  • Micro-/ultra-/nano-filtration
  • Reverse osmosis
  • Drug delivery
  • Thermal, chemical and mechanical properties

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 35696 KiB  
Article
Development of CO2-Selective Polyimide-Based Gas Separation Membranes Using Crown Ether and Polydimethylsiloxane
by Dongyoung Kim, Iqubal Hossain, Asmaul Husna and Tae-Hyun Kim
Polymers 2021, 13(12), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13121927 - 10 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3059
Abstract
A series of CO2-selective polyimides (CE-PDMS-PI-x) was synthesized by copolymerizing crown ether diamine (trans-diamino-DB18C6) and PDMS-diamine with 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) di-phthalic anhydride (6FDA) through the polycondensation reaction. The structural characteristics of the copolymers and corresponding membranes were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), [...] Read more.
A series of CO2-selective polyimides (CE-PDMS-PI-x) was synthesized by copolymerizing crown ether diamine (trans-diamino-DB18C6) and PDMS-diamine with 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene) di-phthalic anhydride (6FDA) through the polycondensation reaction. The structural characteristics of the copolymers and corresponding membranes were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The effect of PDMS loading on the CE-PDMS-PI-x copolymers was further analyzed and a very good structure–property relationship was found. A well-distributed soft PDMS unit played a key role in the membrane’s morphology, in which improved CO2-separation performance was observed at a low PDMS content (5 wt %). In contrast, the fine-grained phase separation adversely affected the separation behavior at a certain level of PDMS loading, and the PDMS was found to provide a flexible gas-diffusion path, affecting only the permeability without changing the selective gas-separation performance for the copolymers with a PDMS content of 20% or above. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Membranes for Separation)
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10 pages, 2843 KiB  
Article
Effect of Additives during Interfacial Polymerization Reaction for Fabrication of Organic Solvent Nanofiltration (OSN) Membranes
by Su-Min Kim, Sena Hong, Bao-Tran Duy Nguyen, Hai-Yen Nguyen Thi, Sang-Hee Park and Jeong-F. Kim
Polymers 2021, 13(11), 1716; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13111716 - 24 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3131
Abstract
Thin film composite (TFC) membranes is the dominant type of desalination in the field of membrane technology. Most of the TFC membranes are fabricated via interfacial polymerization (IP) technique. The ingenious chemistry of reacting acyl chlorides with diamines at the interface between two [...] Read more.
Thin film composite (TFC) membranes is the dominant type of desalination in the field of membrane technology. Most of the TFC membranes are fabricated via interfacial polymerization (IP) technique. The ingenious chemistry of reacting acyl chlorides with diamines at the interface between two immiscible phases was first suggested by Cadotte back in the 1980s, and is still the main chemistry employed now. Researchers have made incremental improvements by incorporating various organic and inorganic additives. However, most of the TFC membrane literature are focused on improving the water desalination performance. Recently, the application spectrum of membrane technology has been expanding from the aqueous environment to harsh solvent environments, now commonly known as Organic Solvent Nanofiltration (OSN) technology. In this work, some of the main additives widely used in the desalination TFC membranes were applied to OSN TFC membranes. It was found that tributyl phosphate (TBP) can improve the solubility of diamine monomer in the organic phase, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant can effectively stabilize the IP reaction interface. Employing both TBP and SDS exhibited synergistic effect that improved the membrane permeance and rejection in solvent environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Membranes for Separation)
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16 pages, 3943 KiB  
Article
PEG/PPG-PDMS-Adamantane-Based Crosslinked Terpolymer Using the ROMP Technique to Prepare a Highly Permeable and CO2-Selective Polymer Membrane
by Dongyoung Kim, Iqubal Hossain, Yeonho Kim, Ook Choi and Tae-Hyun Kim
Polymers 2020, 12(8), 1674; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081674 - 27 Jul 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4784
Abstract
In this study, precursor molecules based on PEG/PPG and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), both widely used rubbery polymers, were copolymerized with bulky adamantane into copolymer membranes. Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) was employed during the polymerization process to create a structure with both ends crosslinked. The [...] Read more.
In this study, precursor molecules based on PEG/PPG and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), both widely used rubbery polymers, were copolymerized with bulky adamantane into copolymer membranes. Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) was employed during the polymerization process to create a structure with both ends crosslinked. The precursor molecules and corresponding polymer membranes were characterized using various analytical methods. The polymer membranes were fabricated using different compositions of PDMS and adamantane, to determine how the network structure affected their gas separation performance. PEG/PPG, in which CO2 is highly soluble, was copolymerized with PDMS, which has high permeability, and adamantane, which controlled the crosslinking density with a rigid and bulky structure. It was confirmed that the resulting crosslinked polymer membranes exhibited high solubility and diffusivity for CO2. Further, their crosslinked structure using ROMP technique made it possible to form good films. The membranes fabricated in the present study exhibited excellent performance, i.e., CO2 permeability of up to 514.5 Barrer and CO2/N2 selectivity of 50.9. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Membranes for Separation)
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