• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.85-98
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• 2015

A global trend of replacing metal or glass containers with polymer-based packaging materials has been prevalent in the food packaging industry due to their ease in processibility, excellent transparency, and good cost efficiency. Barrier polymers tend to show low permeabilities for atmospheric gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor, which allow them to be utilized in the food and beverage packaging industry. With the current global trend, expansion of polymeric packaging materials to new markets such as oxygen sensitive juices, flavored water, and energy drinks requires improved $CO_2$ and $O_2$ barrier properties. The improvement of the existing polymer-based barrier platform will enable a rapid market impact. In this paper, the current barrier technologies such as (1) antiplasticization-induced barrier materials, (2) synergistic effect of antiplasticization and crystallization, (3) new barrier polymers, (4) nanocomposite materials, and (5) polymer blending are introduced with their characterization techniques for the development of advanced packaging materials.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.116-123
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• 2008

Proton conductive hybrid nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membranes comprising polystyrene-5-poly (hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PHEMA), sulfosuccinic acid (SA) and phosphotungstic acid (PWA) were prepared by varying PWA concentrations. The PHEMA block was thermally crosslinked by SA via the esterification reaction between -OH of PHEMA and -COOH of SA. Upon the incorporation of PWA into the diblock copolymer, the symmetric stretching bands of the $SO_3^-$ group at $1187cm^{-1}$ shifted to a lower wavenumber at $1158cm^{-1}$, demonstrating that the PWA particles strongly interact with the sulfonic acid groups of SA. When the concentration of PWA was increased to 30wt%, the proton conductivity of the composite membrane at room temperature increased from 0.045 to 0.062 S/cm, presumably due to the intrinsic conductivity of the PWA particles and the enhanced acidity of the sulfonic acid in the membranes. The membrane containing 30wt% of PWA exhibited a proton conductivity of 0.126 S/cm at $100^{\circ}C$. Thermal stability of the composite membranes was also enhanced by introducing PWA nanoparticles.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

To enhance the transport properties of gas separation membrane, we prepared 6FDA-6FpDA based polyimide membrane with PMMA-graft-silica nanoparticles. The silica was grafted PMMA which is miscible with 6FDA-based polyimide after surface treatment by 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane ($\gamma$-MPS). The untreated silica/6FDA-6FpDA membrane showed greater permeability and less selectivity than PMMA-g-silica/6FDA-6FpDA due to its low dispersion. The transport properties of PMMA-g-silica/6FDA-GFpDA membrane were measured as a function of filler concentration. These membranes were evaluated using pure gases (He, $O_2$, $N_2$, $CO_2$). The increase in permeation was attributed to changes in the free volume distribution until 1 wt%. After 1 wt%, the permeability was decreased by excess silica which decreased effective area in polymer matrix. The selectivity was decreased with increasing permeability on the whole. However, the selectivity of $CO_2$ showed more enhance value.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.149-157
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• 2023

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have shown promise in various applications, including molecular separation, dye separation, gas separation, filtration, and desalination. Integrating COFs into membranes enhances permeability, selectivity, and stability, improving separation processes. Combining COFs with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) creates nanocomposite membranes with high permeability and stability, ideal for dye separation. Incorporating COFs into polyamide (PA) membranes improves permeability and selectivity through a synthetic interfacial strategy. Three-dimensional COF fillers in mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) enhance CO₂/CH₄ separation, making them suitable for biogas upgrading. All-nanoporous composite (ANC) membranes, which combine COFs and metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes, overcome permeance-selectivity trade-offs, significantly improving gas permeance. Computational simulations using hypothetical COFs (hypoCOFs) demonstrate superior CO₂ selectivity and working capacity relevant for CO₂ separation and H₂ purification. COFs integrated into thin-film composite (TFC) and polysulfonamide (PSA) membranes enhance rejection performance for organic contaminants, salt contaminants, and heavy metal ions, improving separation capabilities. TpPa-SO₃H/PAN covalent organic framework membranes (COFMs) exhibited superior desalination performance compared to traditional polyamide membranes by utilizing charged groups to enable efficient desalination through electrostatic repulsion, suggesting their potential for ionic and molecular separations. These findings highlight COFs' potential in membrane technology for enhanced separation processes by improving permeability, selectivity, and stability. In this review, COF applied for the separation process is discussed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2009

A series of organic-inorganic composite membranes from poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) graft copolymer electrolyte and heteropolyacid (HPA) were prepared for proton conducting membranes. First, poly(vinyl chloride)-g-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PVC-g-PSSA) was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of PVC. HPA nanoparticles were then incorporated into the PVC-g-PSSA graft copolymer though the hydrogen bonding interactions, as confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. The proton conductivity of the composite membranes increased from 0.049 to 0.068 S/cm at room temperature with HPA contents up to 0.3 weight traction of HPA, presumably due to both the intrinsic conductivity of HPA particles and the enhanced acidity of the sulfonic acid of the graft copolymer. The water uptake decreased from 130 to 84% with the increase of HPA contents up to 0.45 of HPA weight traction, resulting from the decrease in number of water absorption sites due to hydrogen bonding interaction between the HPA particles and the polymer matrix. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrated the enhancement of thermal stabilities of the composite membranes with increasing concentration of HPA.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.530-537
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• 2015

Photovoltaic (PV) modules are environmentally energy conversion devices to generate electricity via photovoltaic effect of semiconductors from solar energy. One of key elements in PV modules is "Backsheet," a multilayered barrier film, which determines their lifetime and energy conversion efficiency. The representative Backsheet is composed of chemically resistant poly(vinyl fluoride) (PVF) and cheap poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) films used as core and skin materials, respectively. PVF film is too expensive to satisfy the market requirements to Backsheet materials with production cost as low as possible. The promising alternatives to PVF-based Backsheet are hydrocarbon Backsheets employing semi-crystalline PET films instead of PVF film. It is, however, necessary to provide improved barrier property to water vapor to the PET films, since PET films are suffering from hydrolytic decomposition. In this study, a polyurethane adhesive with reduced water vapor permeation behavior is developed via a homogeneous distribution of hydrophobic silica nanoparticles. The modified adhesive is expected to retard the hydrolysis of PET films located in the core and inner skin. To clarify the efficacy of the proposed concept, the mechanical properties and electrochemical PV performances of the Backsheet are compared with those of a Backsheet employing the polyurethane adhesive without the silica nanoparticles, after the exposure under standard temperature and humidity conditions.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2005

Chitosan film has potential applications in agriculture, food, and pharmacy. However, films made only from chitosan lack gas barrier and have poor mechanical properties. For enhanced gas barrier and mechanical properties, chitosan/clay nanocomposites have been prepared with montmorillonite (MMT) which is a layered structure of clays and chitosan. The cationic biopolymer, chitosan is intercalated into $Na^+-montmorillonite$ through cationic exchange and hydrogen bonding process. Diluted acetic acid is used as solvent f3r dissolving and dispersing chitosan. Chitosan was intercalated or exfoliated in MMT and it was confirmed by X-ray diffraction method. D-spacing of the characteristic peak from MMT plate in chitosan/clay nanocomposites was moved and diminished. The thermal stability and the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites are measured by TGA and Universal Testing Machine. Gas permeability through the chitosan/clay nanocomposites films decreased due to increased tortuosity made by intercalation of clay in chitosan.