One-Step Synthesis of Cross-Linked Ionic Polymer Thin Films in Vapor Phase and Its Application to an Oil/Water Separation Membrane

Abstract

In spite of the huge research interest, ionic polymers could not have been synthesized in the vapor phase because the monomers of ionic polymers contain nonvolatile ionic salts, preventing the monomers from vaporization. Here, we suggest a new, one-step synthetic pathway to form a series of cross-linked ionic polymers (CIPs) in the vapor phase via initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD). 2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and 4-vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) monomers are introduced into the iCVD reactor in the vapor phase to form a copolymer film. Simultaneously in the course of the deposition process, the tertiary amine in DMAEMA and benzylic chloride in VBC undergo a Menshutkin nucleophilic substitution reaction to form an ionic ammonium-chloride complex, forming a highly cross-linked ionic copolymer film of p(DMAEMA-co-VBC). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the synthesis of CIP films in the vapor phase. The newly developed CIP thin film is further applied to the surface modification of the membrane for oil/water separation. With the hydrophilic and underwater oleophobic membrane whose surface is modified with the CIP film, excellent separation efficiency (>99%) and unprecedentedly high permeation flux (average 2.32 × 10 L m h) are achieved.

A Surface‐Tailoring Method for Rapid Non‐Thermosensitive Cell‐Sheet Engineering via Functional Polymer Coatings

“…To enable tailoring of the facile control of cell–substrate interactions, properly balanced surface composition is required. From this perspective, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) [ 20 ] is an optimal method for generating a copolymer film with a homogeneous surface composition due to the advantageous characteristics of the vapor‐phase process. In the vapor phase, the input monomers prefer to form a homogeneous mixture regardless of the monomer composition, as a substantial entropic gain favors mixing in the vapor phase.…”

Porous Polyelectrolytes: The Interplay of Charge and Pores for New Functionalities

“…Very recently,I ma nd co-workers proposed an initiated chemical vapor deposition method to prepare cross-linked, conformal polyelectrolyte coatings. [81] By using these methods the authors deposited polyelectrolyte coatings on stainlesssteel mesh to fabricate ah ydrophilic and underwater oleophobic membrane,w hich exhibited ah igh separation efficiency (> 99 %) and unprecedentedly high permeation flux (2.32 10 5 Lm À2 h À1 )inoil/water separations.This approach is ag eneric method to prepare porous polyelectrolyte hybrids with broadly tuned surface chemistry,h ydrophilicity,a nd functional groups.T he groups of Xu and Wang engineered hierarchical porous anion-exchange membranes with improved ion-exchange capacity and selectivity,w hich show good performance in the recovery of acid from waste water by means of diffusion dialysis. [51] Fouling of filtration membranes is an important issue that degrades the separation performance with increasing operation time.S everal reports show that incorporating zwitterionic polyelectrolytes into porous polymer membranes improved their antifouling properties.…”

Large‐Scale, Low‐Power Nonvolatile Memory Based on Few‐Layer MoS2 and Ultrathin Polymer Dielectrics

“…[22,23] Exploiting these advantageous characteristics of the polymer coating process, various polymeric dielectrics and electronic devices have been developed. In particular, the core functionalities of monomers are fully retained during the deposition process.…”