Synthesis and characterization of polysulfone-graft-poly(vinylchloride)-graft-2-methylimidazole membranes with Cu₂O nanoparticles

Abstract

Poly (sulphone) (PSu) was chemically grafted with PVC via Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction at 85°C for 2 h under N2 atmosphere. Further, it was treated with 2-Methylimidazole (2MI) in the presence of Cu2O nanoparticle catalyst in N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) medium for 2 h under nitrogen atmosphere with stirring. Thus synthesized PSu-g-PVC-g-2MI/Cu2O nanocomposite was characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR spectroscopy, DSC, TGA, XPS, SEM, EDX, HR-TEM, WCA and mechanical testing. The FT-IR spectrum showed a peak at 534 cm−1 corresponding to the metal-oxide stretching. The methyl proton signal of 2MI from the resultant polymer appeared at 2.40 ppm in the 1H-NMR spectrum. The glass transition (Tg) temperature and degradation temperature (Td) of the PSu-g-PVC-g-2MI/Cu2O nanocomposite system was determined as 169.2°C and 628°C respectively. The surface water contact angle of the resultant polymer nanocomposite system was found to be 48.1° and confirmed the hydrophilic nature of the membrane. The XPS showed the presence of Cu2p at 930.2 eV derived from Cu2O nanocatalyst. The experimental results were deeply analyzed and compared with the results of the other research teams.