• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2008

The PES-g-BTCA membrane was synthesized by UV irradiation method and then used to be modified into the PES anion exchange membrane by the amination reaction. Their chemical structures and adsorption properties were investigated. The degree of grafting and amination were increased with increasing the reaction time and had the maximum values of 138% and 1.20 mmol/g at 80 min, respectively. The initial thermal degradation temperature of PES membrane was $400^{\circ}C$. Which was reduced as the surface modification reaction had proceeded. The values of contact angle for PES membrane were decreased from 68.1 to $40.2^{\circ}$ with increasing the extent of amination, the water up-take and ion exchange capacity were also increased with increasing UV irradiation time until 80 min. The average pore size and BET surface area were decreased in order of PES, PES-g-BTCA, and aminated PES ion exchange membrane. Their average pore sizes were 624.8, 359.7, and 138.5 ${\AA}$, and their surface areas were 10.1,9.7 and 1.7 $m^2/g$, respectively.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.393-403
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• 2018

In this research commercial polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was modified using $TiO_2$ nanoparticles (P-25 Degussa) and further irradiated using UV light to overcome the hydrophobicity and fouling nature of the membrane. Further the membranes were characterized using SEM and FTIR. Contact angle measurements study confirmed the hydrophilic tendency of the modified membrane by decreasing the contact angle from $73^{\circ}$ to $20.28^{\circ}$. The modified membranes showed higher flux and better anti-fouling properties as compared to the unmodified counterparts. The optimum conditions were found to be 0.5 wt% $TiO_2$ loading with 60 min membrane immersion and 10 min UV light illumination. The effect of different pH conditions of feed was analysed. Real wastewater filtration experiments also indicated better performance of modified membranes as opposed to neat PES membranes.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.329-337
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• 2007

This is the research about a new method to make the internal separation layer with smallest pore size in polyethersulfone (PES) membrane by adding p-toluenesulfonic acid (TSA) and polyvinylpyrolidone (PVP) to polymeric PES solution. The preparation and morphological characterization of PES sheet membranes containing PVP as a hydrophilic swelling material and TSA as a demixing material were performed. As a result by microflow porometery, the PVP and TSA added PES membranes showed good permeabilities and narrow pore size distributions, comparable to those of the commercial membranes. The concentration of PVP affected the PES characteristics on air permeability and surface structure. The concentration of TSA influenced on pore size distribution but do not affect air permeability. The surface images of FE-SEM shows similar pore size when TSA added or not. However, the cross-section images of FE-SEM show that the TSA added PES membranes have a increase of internal layer thickness with smallest pore size.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2009

PES (polyethersulfone) membranes with highly enhanced their asymmetry were prepared by phase inversion process. The membranes were prepared by using PES/DMF (N,N-dimethylformamide)/TSA (p-toluenesulfonic acid)/PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone) casting solution and water coagulant. The pre-coagulation of membrane surface which was induced by an addition of TSA as a demixing agent and PVP as a swelling polymer in the PES solution and humid exposure time, played a crucial role in determining morphological properties and the PWP (pure water permeation) performance. The PES solution was coated on polyester film under condition of 80% humidity for a while ($72{\sim}144$ sec) before immersing in a coagulation bath. The characterization of membranes was carried out by a capillary flow porometer, a FE-SEM and a permeation test apparatus. As the thickness of the smallest pore size layer (SPL) decreased, the asymmetry of membrane increased under conditions of 20 wt% of TSA and 10 wt% of PVP in 11 wt% of PES solution during longer humid contact time. As a result, the membranes showed a remarkable increase of PWP.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.9-13
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• 2016

Electrospun poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membrane impregnated with Nafion (PES-N) have been developed for high-temperature polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC). The PES-N obtains highly thermal stability up to $430^{\circ}C$, which is higher than that of the commercial Nafion 212. The PES-N membrane shows a good proton conductivity of about $10^{-2}S\;cm^{-1}$ in a temperature range from $75^{\circ}C$ to $120^{\circ}C$. The membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) with the PES-N membrane exhibits a current density of $1.697A\;cm^{-2}$ at $75^{\circ}C$, and $0.813A\;cm^{-2}$ at $110^{\circ}C$ when the applied voltage is 0.6 V, whereas the MEA with the Nafion 212 membrane shows the current density of $0.647Acm^{-2}$ at $110^{\circ}C$. The results suggest that the PES-N can be a good candidate for a polymer electrolyte membrane of the HT-PEMFC.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.303-312
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• 2006

The asymmetric hybrid membranes of polyethersulfone (PES) and $ZrO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared via new one-step procedure combining simultaneously the phase-inversion method and the sol-gel technique. The optimum contents of $Zr(PrO)_4\;and\;HNO_3$ catalyst were determined by the adsorption experiments of phosphate anion onto the resulting hybrid membranes. The maximum adsorption of phosphate anion is obtained at the conditions of 0.15 mL $Zr(PrO)_4$ addition per 1 mL PES and 30 mL $HNO_3$ addition per 1 mL $Zr(PrO)_4$. Variation of morphology, performance and incorporated $ZrO_2$ amount of the resulting hybrid membranes were discussed and determined using SEM, pure water flux, TGA, ICP, XRD and contact angle measurements. Increasing $Zr(PrO)_4$ addition into casting solution, pure water flux is increased and $ZrO_2$ amount in the hybrid membrane is maximized at the conditions 0.15 mL $Zr(PrO)_4$ addition per 1 mL PES. The prephosphatation of PES-$ZrO_2$ hybrid membrane was studied to modify the surface characteristics of membrane. Ultrafiltration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution was performed in a dead-end cell using both a bare (non-phosphated) and a phosphated hybrid membrane. It is revealed that both the permeate flux and BSA rejection were increased as about 40% by prephosphatation of hybrid membrane. These results may be explained on the basis of the increase of membrane hydrophilicity, which was determined from contact angle measurements.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.424-431
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• 2018

The gas separation performance of a mixed membrane structure based on a mixture of polyethersulfone (PES) and cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin-benzylimidazole (CoTpp-BIm) as an oxygen carrier was investigated. The CoTpp-BIm mixed PES membrane had an asymmetric structure with a mixture of finger structure and sponge-like structure, and the upper surface was dense. The gas separation performance test was carried out using $94%\;N_2$ gas and $6%\;O_2$ mixed gas. Oxygen and nitrogen permeability coefficients were measured at ${\Delta}P$ ranging from 15 to 228 cmHg and the permeate side of the PES membrane was maintained at vacuum level. The oxygen permeability coefficient of CoTpp-BIm mixed PES membranes increased as supplied pressure was decreased. When the supply pressure was 15 cmHg, the gas permeability ($P_{O_2}$) was 6676 Barrer, the $O_2/N_2$ selectivity (${\alpha}$) was 6.1, and the promoting factor (F) was 2.39. Based on these results, it was confirmed that the addition of CoTpp-BIm to the PES film improved the oxygen separation characteristics.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.130-138
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• 2000

Polyethersulfone (PES) asymmetric membranes for gas separation were prepared by dry/wet phase inversion method and their separation properties for CO$_2$ and N$_2$ gases were investigated. The effects of important variables such as composition of casting solution and evaporation time in preparation of asymmetric gas membrane on membrane morphology and the separation properties were analyzed and the optimum condition of membrane preparation was established. To compensate the defects like pinholes existed on skin layer of the membrane prepared, the membranes were coated with silicone resin. By comparing separation properties after coating with those before coating, we found that the coating of silicone resin was effective to enhance the separation properties. The casting solution mainly used in this study consisted of PES, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, acetone, ethanol and distilled water was used as coagulation agent. It was shown that the selectivity for CO$_2$/N$_2$ was getting higher but the permeability decreases, as the contents of PES and volatile organic solvent and evaporation time increased. The selectivity for CO$_2$/N$_2$ and permeability of CO$_2$ of the membrane prepared under the optimum condition were found to be 61 and 21 GPU, respectively.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.377-388
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• 2011

Flat sheet microfiltration membranes were prepared with polysulfone (PSF), polyethersulfone (PES), and polyphenylsulfone (PPS) by an immersion precipitation phase inversion method. In this method, dimethyl formamide (DMF) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as a solvent and a wetting polymer additive, respectively. 2-butoxyethanol (BE) was used as a nonsolvent additive catalyst to form pore. The morphology of membranes was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and micropermporometer. The permeability of the membranes was evaluated with the flux of pure water. When the BE was added, the pore size of membranes became larger than blank membranes. The changes in the morphology of membrane due to the BE addition depend on polymer structure. All membranes have similar mean pore size and porosity. The mean pore sizes of PSF, PES, and PPS membranes were 0.282, 0.330 $0.308{\mu}m$, respectively. The porosities of PSF, PES and PPS membranes were 68.5, 66.1, 66.4%, respectively. However, the PPS membrane showed higher pore density on surface and narrower pore size distribution than PSF or PES membrane does. As a result, the pure water flux of PPS membrane ($357L/m^2\;hr$) was higher than that of PSF ($196L/m^2\;hr$) or PES membrane ($214L/m^2\;hr$).

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2010

In this study, we manufactured the membrane using the polyethersulfone (PES) of fiber by using the electrospinning method. The polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cells was manufactured by impregnating Nafion solution to the porous PES membrane. We confirmed that electrospun PES membrane has higher thermal stability than Nafion 212 membrane by thermogravimetric analysis. Impregnated Nafion in the pores of the electrospun PES membrane was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The AC impedance data shows the hydrogen ionic conductivity of $10^{-2}$ S/cm below $100^{\circ}C$. Nafion impregnated PES membrane shows the maximum performance at $90^{\circ}C$ showing current density of 389 mA/$cm^2$ at 0.6 V, while Nafion 212 membrane shows maximum at $75^{\circ}C$.