Development and characterization of polymer-grafted ceramic membranes for solvent nanofiltration

Chemical modification/grafting of mesoporous alumina with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)

“…Grafting polymers on ceramic membranes offers the opportunity to tailor and manipulate interfacial properties, while retaining the mechanical strength and geometry of the supported ceramic material. Several types of molecules can be used for modification of inorganic materials, for instance phosphate derivatives [4][5][6], chlorosilanes and alkoxysilanes [2,3,7,8], polysiloxanes [9] and Grignard reactants [10]. The strategy employed in this paper, is grafting with polydimethylsiloxanes.…”

PDMS grafting of mesoporous γ-alumina membranes for nanofiltration of organic solvents

“…The solution was stirred and heated to perform the grafting reaction between MPTES vapor and γ-Al 2 O 3 at 80 1C for 4 h under nitrogen flow. Details on this Vapor Phase Deposition (VPD) method are given elsewhere [19,22,23]. After 4 h the reaction mixture was allowed to cool down.…”

“…In order to study the grafting performance of γ- Details on this vapor phase deposition (VPD) method are given elsewhere [22,23]. After 4 h, both flasks were cooled to ambient temperature.…”

“…The grafting reaction proceeds by hydrolysis of the alkoxy groups of the MPTES followed by a condensation reaction upon meeting the hydroxyl groups on the membrane surface, resulting in a stable covalent Al-O-Si bond between the oxide surfaces and the MPTES. In this reaction, moisture from the substrate acts as a catalyst for the hydrolysis [23,24]. For the silanes to access the hydroxyl groups on the membrane surface, no more than 2 or 3 monolayers of water should exist on the substrate surface [24].…”

“…The silylation of the porous ceramic substrate by Vapor Phase Deposition (VPD) provides a more uniform and homogeneous distribution of products as compared to a Solution Phase Deposition (SPD) method and results in a monolayer or near-monolayer silane coverage on the pore wall [19,22,23]. The grafting reaction proceeds by hydrolysis of the alkoxy groups of the MPTES followed by a condensation reaction upon meeting the hydroxyl groups on the membrane surface, resulting in a stable covalent Al-O-Si bond between the oxide surfaces and the MPTES.…”