Hydrophobic/hydrophilic P(VDF‐TrFE)/PHEA polymer blend membranes |
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| Authors: | Maria N Tamaño‐Machiavello Benjamin Bracke Carlos M Costa Senentxu Lanceros‐Mendez Roser Sabater i Serra José Luis Gómez Ribelles |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Center for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (CBIT), Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain;2. Centro/Departamento de Física, Universidade Do Minho, Braga, Portugal;3. Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER‐BBN), Valencia, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Polymer blend membranes have been obtained consisting of a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic polymers distributed in co‐continuous phases. In order to obtain stable membranes in aqueous environments, the hydrophilic phase is formed by a poly(hydrohyethyl acrylate), PHEA, network while the hydrophobic phase is formed by poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐trifluoroethylene) P(VDF‐TrFE). To obtain the composites, in a first stage, P(VDF‐TrFE) is blended with poly(ethylene oxyde) (PEO), the latter used as sacrificial porogen. P(VDF‐TrFE)/PEO blend membranes were prepared by solvent casting at 70°C followed by cooling to room temperature. Then PEO is removed from the membrane by immersion in water obtaining a P(VDF‐TrFE) porous membrane. After removing of the PEO polymer, a P(VDF‐TrFE) membrane results in which pores are collapsed. Nevertheless the pores reopen when a mixture of hydroxethyl acrylate (HEA) monomer, ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (as crosslinker) and ethanol (as diluent) is absorbed in the membrane and subsequent polymerization yields hybrid hydrophilic/hydrophobic membranes with controlled porosity. The membranes are thus suitable for lithium‐ion battery separator membranes and/or biostable supports for cell culture in biomedical applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 672–679 |
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| Keywords: | hydrophilic hydrophobic P(VDF‐TrFE) PHEA hydrogel porous membrane |
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