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Preparation and water desalination properties of bridged polysilsesquioxane membranes with divinylbenzene and divinylpyridine units

Polymer Journal volume 52, pages 1367–1374 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Bridged polysilsesquioxanes are promising materials for reverse osmosis membranes because they exhibit robust properties. To investigate the effects of the polarity and rigidity of organic components of the polymer on the water permeability of the membrane, two alkoxysilane monomers, 2,5-bis[2-(triethoxysilyl)vinyl]pyridine (BTES-VP) and 1,4-bis[2-(triethoxysilyl)vinyl]benzene (BTES-VB), were synthesized to compare their hydrophilicity and water desalination properties. Water contact angle experiments on the film surfaces revealed that the BTES-VP-derived film was more hydrophilic than the BTES-VB-derived film. Density functional theory calculations of the monomer structures also suggested that BTES-VP is more polar and has a larger dipole moment than BTES-VB. Both membranes prepared from BTES-VP and BTES-VB rejected 95–97% of aqueous sodium chloride and displayed water permeances of 1.1 × 10−13 and 8.5 × 10−14 m3/(m2 Pa s), respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18K14287.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan

    Kazuki Yamamoto, Ibuki Saito, Yunosuke Amaike & Takahiro Gunji

  2. Digital Monozukuri (Manufacturing) Education and Research Center, 3-10-32 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima, 739-0046, Japan

    Toshimi Nakaya

  3. Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-4-1 Kagamiyama, Higashihiroshima, 739-8527, Japan

    Joji Ohshita

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  1. Kazuki Yamamoto
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  2. Ibuki Saito
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Correspondence to Kazuki Yamamoto or Takahiro Gunji.

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Yamamoto, K., Saito, I., Amaike, Y. et al. Preparation and water desalination properties of bridged polysilsesquioxane membranes with divinylbenzene and divinylpyridine units. Polym J 52, 1367–1374 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-020-0386-x

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