SynopsisThe effects of plasma treatment conditions, such as supply power, treatment time, gases used in reactor, surface energy, water content, dialysis permeability, partition coefficient, diffusion coefficient, and free volume of Nylon 4 membranes, were studied. The solutes considered for dialysis system.were NaC1, urea, and MgC1,. The permeabilities of NaCl and urea of membranes with plasma treated in argon a t 80 W for 20 min are 5.57 X and 5.89 X cm2/rnin, respectively. Much higher permeabilities of NaCl and urea obtained by oxygen plasma-treated membranes under 20 W and for 20 min are 30.74 X and 17.66 cm2/min, respectively, compared to that of untreated Nylon 4 membranes.were NaC1, urea, and MgC1,.
EXPERIMENTAL Polymer SynthesisNylon 4 was synthesized by C0,-initiated polymerization of 2-pyrrolidone using potassium 2-pyrrolidonate as a c a t a l y~t .~ The molecular weights of