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Morphological properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride-cotetrafluoroethylene membrane): effect of solvents and polymer concentrations
Amira Mohd Nasib1, Irfan Hatim2, Nora Jullok3, Hameed R. Alamery4.
Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (PVDF-co-PTFE) flat sheet membranes were prepared via phase inversion
process by means of immersion precipitation. The effects on the microstructure of prepared membranes by using different
solvents and the effect of polymer solution composition (polymer concentration) on the membrane morphologies and the
membrane porosity were studied. Three different solvents were employed, which were, N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), Nmethyl-2-pyrrolidone
(NMP) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Different polymer concentrations were used; 20 wt.%, 25
wt.% and 30 wt.%. Brookfield viscometer was used to measure the viscosity for each polymer solution before the membrane was
casting. The morphological study for the cross-sectional area of PVDF-co-PTFE membrane was carried out by using scanning
electron microscope (SEM). The membrane porosity was determined by using the weight difference and density resulted from
the immersing of dry membrane into octanol for 15 seconds. The results showed that the polymer concentration was a
particularly important parameter. At different polymer concentration, the precipitant plays an important role and finally influence
the prepared membrane microstructure. At higher concentration of PVDF-co-PTFE polymer, the prepared membrane possessed a
sponge-like membrane structures, whereas at lower concentration, a finger-like structure was obtained. It was also found that, the
membrane porosity decreases with the increasing of polymer concentration. The effect of different solvent reflected to different
morphologies of the prepared flat sheet membranes. Prepared membrane with more sponge-like structure indicated a weak
dissolution solvent was used. Hence, a small amount of water needed to induce precipitation and reduced the precipitation rate.
Affiliation:
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
- Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
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Indexation |
Indexed by |
MyJurnal (2019) |
H-Index
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0 |
Immediacy Index
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0.000 |
Rank |
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Indexed by |
Scopus (SCImago Journal Rankings 2016) |
Impact Factor
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0 |
Rank |
Q4 (Analytical Chemistry) |
Additional Information |
0.152 (SJR) |
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