The use of polyethersulfone (PES), an excellent but highly hydrophobic thermoplastic, as a matrix material for ionexchange
membranes was investigated. To make PES ion-exchangeable, sulfonate groups were introduced to the
polymer chains by sulfonation reaction with chlorosulfonic acid. The degree of sulfonation of sPES was estimated to be
21%. Preliminary experiments investigated the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Pluronic F127 as fillers to
improve the hydrophilicity of the membranes. Moreover, a lab scale electrodialysis cell has been designed and set up to
evaluate the performance of these novel membranes compared to the benchmark of commercial membranes. The results
show promising properties of ion-exchange capacity, water uptake, conductivity and hydophilicity from blended
membranes, comparable to commercial membranes, though the performance of the prepared membranes did not exceed
the commercial one. Further characterization of the transport properties of ion-exchange membranes need to be
investigated to be able to understand the effects of the fillers on the performance of the membranes in ED application.
Conference Committee Involvement (3)
Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology III
11 August 2008 | San Diego, California, United States
Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology II
27 August 2007 | San Diego, California, United States
Solar Hydrogen and Nanotechnology
14 August 2006 | San Diego, California, United States
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