Swelling Poly(ionic liquid) Supported by Three-Dimensional Wire Mesh for Oil/Water Separation

Abstract

A kind of oil/water separation membrane, combining poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) and three-dimensional (3D) wire mesh, was designed and prepared via one-step photopolymerization of an ionic liquid monomer 1,8triethylene glycoldiyl-3,3′-divinylimidazolium dibromide ([DVIm-(EG) 3 ]Br 2 ) with acrylic acid in the mesh. The composite membrane (PIL@Mesh) had the advantages of anti-oil-adhesion property and high mechanical strength simultaneously. The morphology of PIL@Mesh characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Cryo-SEM demonstrated that PIL swelled in water to construct microscale 3D networks. The 3D networks of swelling PIL were capable of forming a hydration layer and endowed PIL@Mesh with superhydrophilicity, which made the membrane to transport water but to intercept oil. PIL@Mesh showed excellent separation efficiency (above 99.9%) for various oil/water mixtures, large water flux (47 L•m −2 •s −1 ), and high intrusion pressure (1.2 kPa). Meanwhile, it performed well in recyclability and corrosion-resistant under harsh conditions, such as acid, alkaline, and salty environments.

Urea‐Functionalized Swelling Poly(ionic liquid)s as Efficient Catalysts for the Transesterification and Hydrolysis of Ethylene Carbonate

“…Their high swelling ability originated from the electrostatic repulsion between ions on the polymer chains and osmotic imbalance between the interior and exterior of the SPILs. [2] SPILs have recently emerged as promising new materials for sensing, [3] actuation, [4] gas and dyes adsorption, [5] oil/water separation [6] and heterogeneous catalysis. [7] SPILs' quasi-homogeneous nature, abundant catalytic active sites, and tunable swelling ability make them ideal candidates for new catalyst design and application.…”

Uniformly Dispersed Ru Nanoparticles Constructed by In Situ Confined Polymerization of Ionic Liquids for the Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…Herein, ILs in situ confined polymerization strategy was employed to prepare the poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) networks [40][41][42] confined Ru NPs (homo-PIL-Ru/C). During the synthesis, the facilely prepared N-vinyl functionalized imidazolium ILs was polymerizable, containing lots of unique features in this strategy such as miscible with metal salts.…”

Nanoconfined Crosslinked Poly(ionic liquid)s with Unprecedented Selective Swelling Properties Obtained by Alkylation in Nanophase-Separated Poly(1-vinylimidazole)-l-poly(tetrahydrofuran) Conetworks

“…Another class of imidazole-based polymers belongs to poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs), that is macromolecules with ionic liquid (IL) moieties. Due to the challenging tasks of the synthesis, revealing the structure–property relationships, and the broad range of special application possibilities, PILs have been intensively investigated in recent years (see e.g., references [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ] and references therein). PILs may find applications in energy production as proton [ 57 ], electron [ 58 , 59 ], or Li-ion [ 60 , 73 ] conducting materials; as metal free [ 61 ] and metal containing [ 62 ] catalysts; gas separation membranes [ 63 , 64 ]; DNA isolation microspheres [ 65 ] etc.…”

“…Although several applications require crosslinked PILs, PIL networks have not gained broad interest yet. The crosslinking usually takes place by copolymerizing IL monomers with conventional crosslinking agents, such as divinylbenzene and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate [ 43 , 69 , 70 , 71 ] or by bis-vinylimidazolium compounds [ 72 , 73 ]. In a few cases, low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) di(meth)acrylate oligomers were used as crosslinkers in the preparation of PIL networks [ 41 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ].…”