Polymer films, thin composite

Immobilization of the bilayer membranes as thin solid films is required when the bilayer membranes are used as novel functional materials. Casting method is a simple way to immobilize the bilayer membrane on a solid support from an aqueous solution by drying. Polymer film is easily prepared when the cast film of polymerizable bilayer membrane is polymerized. A free standing polymer film prepared by photo polymerization of the cast film of diacetylene amphiphiles was reported by O Brien and co-workers [34]. Composition with macromolecular materials is another way of polymer film preparation. Bilayer membranes are immobilized as polymer composites by the following physical methods ... 

Kilbride BE, Coleman JN, Foumet P, Cadek A, Hutzler S, Roth S, Blau WJ (2002). Experimental observation of scaling laws for alternating current and direct current conductivity in polymer-carbon nanotube composite thin films. J. Appl. Phys. 92 4024—4030. 

Finally the synthesis of inorganic-polymer composite membranes should be mentioned. Several attempts have been made to combine the high permeability of inorganic membranes with the good selectivity of polymer membranes. Furneaux and Davidson (1987) coated a anodized alumina with polymer films. The permeability increased by a factor of 100, as compared to that in the polymer fiber, but the selectivities were low (H2/O2 = 4). Ansorge (1985) made a supported polymer film and coated this film with a thin silica layer. Surprisingly, the silica layer was found to be selective for the separation mixture He-CH4 with a separation factor of 5 towards CH4. The function of the polymer film is only to increase the permeability. No further data are given. 

Although this technique is not normally used for thin polymer films for the reasons described before, it can be used for analyzing the surface of polymer composites containing conductive fillers, e.g. carbon fibers. In addition, because of the surface specificity, the sampled area can be maintained almost identically to the beam cross-section so that the scanning Auger microscope (SAM) can have a spatial resolution that is much better than that of microprobe analysis. 

Most commercially available RO membranes fall into one of two categories asymmetric membranes containing one polymer, or thin-film composite membranes consisting of two or more polymer layers. Asymmetric RO membranes have a thin ( 100 nm) permselective skin layer supported on a more porous sublayer of the same polymer. The dense skin layer determines the fluxes and selectivities of these membranes whereas the porous sublayer serves only as a mechanical support for the skin layer and has little effect on the membrane separation properties. Asymmetric membranes are most commonly formed by a phase inversion (polymer precipitation) process (16). In this process, a polymer solution is precipitated into a polymer-rich solid phase that forms the membrane and a polymer-poor liquid phase that forms the membrane pores or void spaces. 

The apparatus used to make small sections of water-cast composite membranes is shown in Figure 3.23. The dilute polymer solution is cast on the surface between two Teflon rods. The rods are then moved apart to spread the film. The thin polymer film formed on the water surface is picked up on a microporous support. The main problem with this method is the transfer of the fragile, ultrathin film onto the microporous support. This is usually done by sliding the support... 

One promising approach to facilitated transport pioneered by Nishide and coworkers at Wasada University is to chemically bind the oxygen carrier to the polymer backbone, which is then used to form a dense polymer film containing no solvent [28], In some examples, the carrier species is covalently bonded to the polymer matrix as shown in Figure 11.29(a). In other cases, the polymer matrix contains base liquids which complex with the carrier molecule through the base group as shown in Figure 11.29(b). Because these films contain no liquid solvent, they are inherently more stable than liquid membranes and also could be formed into thin films of the selective material in composite membrane form. So far the selectivities and fluxes of these membranes have been moderate. 

Myler S, Eaton S, Higson S. Poly(o-phenylenediamine ultra-thin polymer-film composite membranes for enzyme electrodes. Analytica Chimica Acta 1997, 357, 55-61. 

Cross-section structure. An anisotropic membrane (also called asymmetric ) has a thin porous or nonporous selective barrier, supported mechanically by a much thicker porous substructure. This type of morphology reduces the effective thickness of the selective barrier, and the permeate flux can be enhanced without changes in selectivity. Isotropic ( symmetric ) membrane cross-sections can be found for self-supported nonporous membranes (mainly ion-exchange) and macroporous microfiltration (MF) membranes (also often used in membrane contactors [1]). The only example for an established isotropic porous membrane for molecular separations is the case of track-etched polymer films with pore diameters down to about 10 run. All the above-mentioned membranes can in principle be made from one material. In contrast to such an integrally anisotropic membrane (homogeneous with respect to composition), a thin-film composite (TFC) membrane consists of different materials for the thin selective barrier layer and the support structure. In composite membranes in general, a combination of two (or more) materials with different characteristics is used with the aim to achieve synergetic properties. Other examples besides thin-film are pore-filled or pore surface-coated composite membranes or mixed-matrix membranes [3]. 

HDPE, composite materials such as epoxy-glass fiber and epoxy-carbon fiber, and laminate structures such as polymer films on bulk metal substrates. Thin-conductive film heaters were made of electrically conductive paints, electrically conductive polymer films, metal foils (stainless-steel, copper, titanium, and titanium alloys), and thin metal films sputtered on a ceramics or glass. The samples dimensions varied from a few centimeters to 5m. 

Thin polymer films composed of two layers with different composition have been used for almost two decades to determine the diffusion coefficient [12,78-82] on the basis of observed broadening of their initial profiles ( >(z). When the two layers are built of two fully miscible phases (T>TC regime for blends with upper critical solution temperature UCST), a free interdiffusion takes place with the interface growing with time t as w1/2°=t1/2. This process proceeds without limits and results in a single homogeneous phase. 

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