In-situ interfacial polymerization endows surface enrichment of -COOH groups on anion exchange membranes for efficient Cl-/SO42- separation

Title : In-situ interfacial polymerization endows surface enrichment of -COOH groups on anion exchange membranes for efficient Cl-/SO42- separation

Abstract:

In-situ interfacial polymerization (ISIP) technique is developed to prepare monovalent anion-permselective membranes (MAPMs). The introduction of multi-hydroxyl (-OH) and cationic groups in the base membrane provide suitable routes towards the monovalent anion transport. Only trimesoyl chloride (TMC) is employed to generate a crosslinked polyester layer on membrane surface. The ISIP transforms the surface of anion exchange membranes into a dense and negatively charged layer to promote the ion permselectivity. The modified membranes show a high limiting current density and low membrane resistance of 4.7 Ω.cm². The resultant membranes exhibit a high Cl^- flux of 6.3 × 10^-8 mol cm^-2 s^-1 and a high permselectivity of ~60 for Cl^-/SO₄^2-. The findings demonstrate the ISIP technique having great potentials for the fabrication of highly permselective MAPMs.

Keywords: Monovalent anion permselective membranes, In-situ interfacial polymerization, Anion separation,  Permselectivity, Ionic flux,  Electrodialysis

Biography:

Noor Ul Afsar (born 1984) is a Pakistani physical and applied chemist and a postdoc fellow with prof. Wu Liang at the department of chemistry University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui Province PR China. Noor obtained his MS and Ph.D. from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) under the supervision of prof. Xu Tongwen. Noor’s research focuses on synthesizing ion-selective membranes for efficient ion separations. His main academic accomplishments are; developing cost-effective membranes for acid-base recovery by utilizing environment-friendly materials. He has established a facile protocol for ion-exchange membranes and is used for acid-base and lithium recovery via diffusing dialysis and electrodialysis processes.