• Korean Membrane Journal
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.18-24
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• 2003

In order to improve the mechanical properties of the sulfonated polysulfone (SPSf) membranes previously synthesized in our laboratory, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was blended which is well known as the excellent physical and chemical properties. The resulting membranes blended with several molecular weight of PVA varying from 13,000 to 124,000 have been characterized to investigate the effect of PVA molecular weight in terms of ion conductivities, methanol permeabilities, water contents and ion exchange capacities for both heat treated and untreated membranes at 150$^{\circ}C$. The proton conductivity is decreased as the molecular weight of PVA increases. The plain SPSf-6.0 showed the proton conductivity of 0.078 S/cm whereas the blended membrane with M.W. 31,000 PVA indicated 0.04 S/cm. For methanol permeabilities, when PVA is added to SPAf-6.0, methanol crossover is increased because of the gain of the hydrophilicity from 3.4 to 6.5${\times}$10$\^$-6/ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s. For the annealed blended membranes (with M.W. 31,000 PVA), both the methanol corssover and proton conductivity showed very consistent values, about 2.3${\times}$10$\^$-6/ $\textrm{cm}^2$/s and 0.036 S/cm, respectively.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제16권3호
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• pp.204-211
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• 2008

A platinum-catalyzed polyelectrolyte porous membrane was prepared by solid-state compression of electrospun polystyrene (PS) fibers and in-situ metallization of counter-balanced ionic metal sources on the polymer surface. Using this ion-exchange metal-polymer composite system, fiber entangled pores were formed in the interstitial space of the fibers, which were surrounded by sulfonic acid sites ($SO_3^-$) to give a cation-selective polyelectrolyte porous bed with an ion exchange capacity ($I_{EC}$) of 3.0 meq/g and an ionic conductivity of 0.09 S/cm. The Pt loading was estimated to be 16.32 wt% from the $SO_3^-$ ions on the surface of the sulfonated PS fibers, which interact with the cationic platinum complex, $Pt(NH_3)_4^{2+}$, at a ratio of 3:1 based on steric hindrance and the arrangement of interacting ions. This is in good agreement with the Pt loading of 15.82 wt% measured by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The Pt-loaded sulfonated PS media showed an ionic conductivity of 0.32 S/cm. The in-situ metallized platinum provided a nano-sized and strongly-bound catalyst in robust porous media, which highlights its potential use in various electrochemical and catalytic systems.