Diffusion control of porous membrane by modifying the nanopore properties

Mi Hee Kim, André Ayral, Chung Berm Park, Jin Ho Choy, Jae Min Oh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have investigated the diffusion of various solvents on nanoporous membranes with various pore size and surface energy. We have modified the size of pore channel and surface energy of porous membrane through grafting different sized alkyl chain on inorganic membranes. Typically, disc type zirconia membranes with pore size of 3 nm and silica ones with 1 nm pore were purchased from Inocermic Co. Ltd. (Germany), and the surface and pore channel was modified by either octyltriethoxysilane (OTS) with chain length ∼1 nm or pentyltriethoxysilane (PTS) with chain length ∼0.5 nm. The water contact angles of both OTS and PTS grafted membrane were larger than 100° indicating the hydrophobically modified surface. Contact angles of hydrophilic and hydrophobic solvents were also examined to obtain exact surface energy (γ SV) of grafted membrane, and the values were determined to be 56.3, 45.3, and 42.2 mN/m for ungrafted, PTS- and OTS-grafted membrane, respectively. The solvent diffusion patterns were evaluated by measuring the concentration gradient of small dye molecule, azobenzene. The diffusion coefficients of various solvents were measured on the basis of Fick's diffusion law. It was concluded that the diffusivity is dependent on the pore size for solvent with low surface tension and on the γ SV value for solvent with high surface tension.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1656-1659
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Volume11
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2011

Keywords

  • Diffusion
  • Nanopore
  • Nanoporous materials
  • Surface modification

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