• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.311-317
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• 2007

Proton conducting crosslinked membranes have been prepared by polymer blending, which consist of poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) (PVA-co-PE) and poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-maleic acid) (PSSA-co-PMA) at 50 : 50 wt ratio. Two kinds of PSSA-co-PMA copolymer with 3 : 1 and 1 : 1 the molar ratio of PSSA to PMA wereused as a proton conducting source. The ethylene content of PVA-co-PE was also changed as 0, 27 and 44 mol%. The membranes were thermally crosslinked via the esterification reaction between -OH of PVA and -COOH of PMA, as demonstrated by FT-IR spectroscopy (PVA-co-PE)/(PSSA-co-PMA) membranes with 3 : 1 the molar ratio of PSSA to PMA showed higher ion exchange capacity (IEC), lower water uptake and higher proton conductivity than those with 1 : 1 molar ratio. As the PE concentration increased, the IEC values, water uptake and proton conductivities decreased continuously. These properties were elucidated in terms of competitive effect between the concentration of sulfonic acid, hydrophilicity and the crosslinked structure of membranes.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.206-212
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• 2005

Acid-resistant poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes connected with ethylene and ether groups were prepared via a thermal crosslinking reaction by varying the ratio of PVA to ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE). The crosslinked membranes were characterized using FT-IR and swelling tests, respectively. Pervaporation behaviors with the PVA membranes were investigated for aqueous TFEA (2,2,2-trifluoroethanol) as a function of EGDE content and operating temperature. The pervaporation properties far MA (methacrylic acid)/water mixture were also carried out with the optimized PVA membrane. The PVA membranes prepared with EGDE showed more excellent acid-resistance than those crosslinked with gluaraldehyde. The membranes showed high permeation fluxes of 0.1 and $0.3\;km^2h$ and high separation factors of 100 and 900 in the $96\;wt\%$ TFEA and MA aqueous fred mixtures at high temperature above $80^{\circ}C$, respectively. These confirmed theses membranes could be used in esterification membrane reactor process for the production of 2,2,2-trifluoroethylmetacrylate (TFEMA).