Evaluating the role of thermodynamic and kinetic properties on the morphology of membranes prepared from water/DMAc/PES/PVP

In this work the impact of polymeric additive content and thermodynamic and kinetic properties of quaternary dope solutions consist of water, N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), polyethersulfone (PES), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on the morphology of the resulting membranes are investigated. To evaluate the role of these parameters, the coagulation value and viscosity of solutions were measured and morphology of the prepared membranes was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Results have shown that irrespective of PES concentration, similar morphological structure is observed in membranes prepared from solutions with the same content of PVP. On the other hand, a comparison between membranes prepared from dope solutions with the same thermodynamic and kinetic properties has shown that completely different morphological structures are observed in these membranes. As a result, it was concluded that in membranes prepared from dope solutions containing PVP, the membrane morphology is determined by the amount of PVP and not the main polymer concentration or the dope thermodynamic and kinetic properties

Keywords:

Additive-Polyethersulfone-Membrane morphology-Thermodynamics-Kinetics