Styrene-Based Copolymer for Polymer Membrane Modifications

Abstract

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was modified with a styrene-based copolymer. The crystalline behavior, phase, thermal stability, and surface morphology of the modified membranes were analyzed. The membrane surface roughness showed a strong dependence on the styrene-acrylonitrile content and was reduced to 34% for a PVDF/styrene-acrylonitrile blend membrane with a 40/60 ratio. The thermal and crystalline behavior confirmed the blend miscibility of both polymers. It was observed in X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments that the modified PVDF membranes show a drastic reduction in their crystallinity. The neat PVDF membrane has the highest degradation rate, which decreased with the addition of the styrene-based copolymer.

Keywords

• PVDF membrane
• membrane modification
• crystalline behavior
• hydrophilicity