(516e) Metal Organic Brush (MOB) Membranes for Organic Solvent Nanofiltration

Performance and characterization of a new class of synthetic membranes are presented. These membranes are based on a brush-like active layer cross-linked with copper ions. These “metal organic brush” membranes, called MOBs, are the rate limiting barrier to species transport and endow the membrane with selectivity. The semi-crystalline nature of these composite membranes are hypothesized to reduce membrane pore-size distribution and increase selectivity between molecules very close in molecular weight. Polyimide ultrafiltration support membranes were crosslinked with diamines and grafted with an ATRP initiator. A step towards “structure by design” membranes becomes possible through use of controlled radical polymerization techniques, such as ATRP. The membranes were tested for their transport properties (selectivity and permeability) of several dyes in the nanofiltration range. Several techniques, including Attenuated Total Reflectance – Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the membranes.