Polymer Transport Processes

Polymer transport processes that are relevant to the FRRPP process are fluid flow, heat transport, and mass transfer. Fluid flow is evident during fluid conveying and mixing of reactor fluids. Heat transfer is always relevant not only for dissipation of the heat of polymerization but also in an unusual heat trapping effect found in FRRPP systems. Finally, mass transfer is relevant to the diffusion of reactants into polymerization reactive sites, in measurement of spinodal curves, and in study of the evolution of composition profiles during phase separation. 

Ceramic, Metal, and Liquid Membranes. The discussion so far implies that membrane materials are organic polymers and, in fact, the vast majority of membranes used commercially are polymer based. However, interest in membranes formed from less conventional materials has increased. Ceramic membranes, a special class of microporous membranes, are being used in ultrafHtration and microfiltration appHcations, for which solvent resistance and thermal stabHity are required. Dense metal membranes, particularly palladium membranes, are being considered for the separation of hydrogen from gas mixtures, and supported or emulsified Hquid films are being developed for coupled and facHitated transport processes. 

At very high dopant concentrations, transport occurs direcdy between the dopant molecules. The polymer acts only as a binder in most cases. Taking TPD-doped PVK as an example, at low TPD concentrations the hole mobihty first decreases from 3 x 10 cm /Vs to 10 cm /Vs with increasing TPD concentration, because TPD molecules act as hole traps (48,49). At higher TPD concentrations, new direct transport channels between the TPD molecules open up and the hole mobihty increases to lO " cm /Vs for ca 60% TPD doping (Table 1, entries 9—11) (48,49). In this case, there is no evidence for unusual interaction between TPD and PVK that affects the hole transport process. 

Service temperature limitations must be considered in the use of composites, not only in the selection of polymer and process, but sometimes in the selection of the reinforcement as weU. Composites cannot generally perform as weU as metals or ceramics in very high temperature appHcations, but they can be made fire resistant to meet most constmction and transportation codes. 

Whenever the polymer crystal assumes a loosely packed hexagonal structure at high pressure, the ECC structure is found to be realized. Hikosaka [165] then proposed the sliding diffusion of a polymer chain as dominant transport process. Molecular dynamics simulations will be helpful for the understanding of this shding diffusion. Folding phenomena of chains are also studied intensively by Monte Carlo methods and generalizations [166,167]. 

The electrochemistry of a polymer-modified electrode is determined by a combination of thermodynamics and the kinetics of charge-transfer and transport processes. Thermodynamic aspects are highlighted by cyclic voltammetry, while kinetic aspects are best studied by other methods. These methods will be introduced here, with the emphasis on how they are used to measure the rates of electron and ion transport in conducting polymer films. Charge transport in electroactive films in general has recently been reviewed elsewhere.9,11... 

Carbonell, RG Sarti, GC, Coupled Deformation and Mass-Transport Processes in Solid Polymers, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research 29, 1194, 1990. 

The presence of -S02(OH) groups reduced the carbon dioxide permeability by a factor of three. This can be explained (15) by the decrease in local segmental mobility of the polymer chains due to the interactions arising from hydrogen bonding. However, the overall transport process for this polymer membrane is more complicated and involves a more pronounced discrimination against methane molecules due to the highly polar nature of the polymer. 

Most descriptions of the dynamics of molecular or particle motion in solution require a knowledge of the frictional properties of the system. This is especially true for polymer solutions, colloidal suspensions, molecular transport processes, and biomolecular conformational changes. Particle friction also plays an important role in the calculation of diffusion-influenced reaction rates, which will be discussed later. Solvent multiparticle collision dynamics, in conjunction with molecular dynamics of solute particles, provides a means to study such systems. In this section we show how the frictional properties and hydrodynamic interactions among solute or colloidal particles can be studied using hybrid MPC-MD schemes. 

A discussion of the charge transfer reaction on the polymer-modified electrode should consider not only the interaction of the mediator with the electrode and a solution species (as with chemically modified electrodes), but also the transport processes across the film. Let us assume that a solution species S reacts with the mediator Red/Ox couple as depicted in Fig. 5.32. Besides the simple charge transfer reaction with the mediator at the interface film/solution, we have also to include diffusion of species S in the polymer film (the diffusion coefficient DSp, which is usually much lower than in solution), and also charge propagation via immobilized redox centres in the film. This can formally be described by a diffusion coefficient Dp which is dependent on the concentration of the redox sites and their mutual distance (cf. Eq. (2.6.33). 

In conventional analyses of transport based on Fick s laws, the fundamental parameters that define the transport process are the solute diffusion coefficient in the polymer film, DM, and the partition coefficient, KP. Essentially, the diffusion coefficient defines how fast a solute molecule moves, and the partition coefficient... 

Erosion is typically characterized by either occurring on the surface or in the bulk. Surface erosion is controlled by the chemical reaction and/or dissolution kinetics, while bulk erosion is controlled by diffusion and transport processes such as polymer swelling, diffusion of water through the polymer matrix, and the diffusion of degradation products from the swollen polymer matrix. The processes of surface and bulk erosion are compared schematically in Fig. 1. These two processes are idealized descriptions. In real systems, the tendency towards surface versus bulk erosion behavior is a function of the particular chemistry and device geometry (Tamada and Langer, 1993). Surface erosion may permit the... 

Self-consistent approaches in molecular modeling have to strike a balance of appropriate representation of the primary polymer chemistry, adequate treatment of molecular interactions, sufficient system size, and sufficient statistical sampling of structural configurations or elementary transport processes. They should account for nanoscale confinement and random network morphology and they should allow calculating thermodynamic properties and transport parameters. 

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