Journal of Membrane Science, Vol.474, 167-174, 2015
Novel composite cation exchange films based on sulfonated PVDF for electromembrane separations
A novel cation exchange membrane (CEM) composed of a blend of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and sulfonated PVDF (S-PVDF) was prepared. The membranes were prepared with different fractions of SPVDF to optimize performance in desalination. The sulfonated polymer was characterized by FTIR, HNMR, DSC and TGA. The membrane properties such as ion exchange capacity (lEC), transport number, morphology, permselectivity, ion conductivity, water uptake, contact angle and elearodialysis (ED) performance were evaluated. Polymer characterization proved the sulfonation of PVDF and the degree of sulfonaLion was estimated. With increasing S-PVDF fractions, the transport number and permselectivity decreased while the lEC and ion conductivity increased. Finally, the salt extraction in ED obtained for a 70% S-PVDF membrane was 67.6%, which is a better performance than that of a commercial membrane. (C). 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Sulfonated PVDF (S-PVDF);Cation exchange membrane (CEM);Ion exchange capacity (IEC);Electrodialysis Composite membrane