New Block Copolymers for Membrane Materials

by Francis A. DiGiano, (M.ASCE),
Ying Chu,
Joseph M. DeSimone,
Benny D. Freeman,
Camille Kassis,
Doug Betz,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: North American Water and Environment Congress & Destructive Water

Abstract:

New fluorine containing polymer materials, which contain n-fluoro octylacrylate (pFOA) or n-fluorooctylmethylacrylate (pFOMA) repeating units, are being explored for use in thin film composite membranes in treatment of drinking water. These polymers both have extremely low surface tension which should prevent the accumulation of foulant materials from water. However, they need to be chemically linked with a hydrophilic polymer, e.g. vinyl alcohol, in order to produce hydrophilic regions that span the entire sample thickness and thus form channels for water permeation. Such a microphase-separated structure can be controlled through the process of block copolymer synthesis. The initial findings from synthesis and characterization of copolymers and formation of thin-film composite membranes are presented.

Subject Headings: Composite materials | Synthetic materials | Polymer | Water treatment | Membranes | Surface Tension (water properties) | Materials characterization

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