Polymer, Vol.40, No.5, 1153-1158, 1999
New method to determine the true transmissibilities and permeabilities of oxygen in hydrogel membranes
In the present paper, an electrochemical method to obtain the true transmissibilities and permeabilities of hydrogels to oxygen is proposed. The method involves the measurement of the electric current arising from the flow of oxygen through a potentiostat cell integrated by a top water layer, the hydrogel membrane, and a thin water layer between the membrane and the cathode, where the oxygen is reduced. Varying the thickness of the top water layer, the true permeation characteristics of the hydrogels are obtained. A parallel study was carried out in which the transmissibilities and permeation coefficients were obtained from the variation of the steady state current with the thickness of the membranes. The permeation results obtained by the two methods agree very satisfactorily. The method also permits to determine the values of the transmissibility of the water layers of the experimental set-up.