An optimization of microwave-assisted grafting of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) onto nylon-6 porous film for thermo-responsive gating membrane

Abstract

This work focused on a fabrication of smart membranes using a novel grafting method comprising of plasma peroxide technique together with microwave-assisted polymerization. PNIPAm, thermo-responsive polymer, both with and without crosslinker, were grafted onto porous Nylon-6 membranes. Key parameters for grafting including the microwave irradiation time, output power, and monomer concentration have been investigated. Characterizations using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed that the PNIPAm have been successfully grafted onto the surface both on the top surface of the membrane and the surface inside the pores. Irradiation time of 10 min under 800 w were found to be an optimum condition which gave the highest yield of 10 wt%. For both the linear and crosslinked PNIPAm-grafted membranes, the highest grafting yield was obtained from using 3 wt% of NIPAm monomer solution. Because of this fast fabrication time and environmentally friendly method, new smart gating membranes can be produced which will help providing an ever-better performances transport control of gas and liquid for various fields including medical and packaging applications.

Keywords

• porous nylon-6 (pa6) membrane
• poly(n-isopropylacrylamide)
• thermoresponsive polymer
• microwave-assisted polymerization
• plasma treatment
• smart gating