Filter‐Through Method of Making Highly Efficient Polymer‐Clay Nanocomposite Membranes

Title data

Zhu, Jian ; Habel, Christoph ; Schilling, Theresa ; Greiner, Andreas ; Breu, Josef ; Agarwal, Seema:
Filter‐Through Method of Making Highly Efficient Polymer‐Clay Nanocomposite Membranes.
In: Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. Vol. 304 (2019) Issue 7 . - 1800779.
ISSN 1439-2054
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201800779

Project information

Abstract in another language

Electrospun filter with hierarchical pore structure and variable pore diameter is used for the first time in making a flexible, strong, and high gas-barrier membrane. A versatile, technical, benign processing method for the fabrication of highly filled (>25 wt%) efficient gas-barrier polymer membrane with perfectly aligned synthetic high-aspect ratio layered silicate (clay) of variable and considerable thickness (up to 5 mu m) is presented. This process combines advantageous features of an electrospun substrate like high porosity, variable pore size (typically <5 mu m), thermoplasticity and of an aqueous suspension of a synthetic clay consisting of single 1 nm thick layers with a huge median lateral extension (>10 mu m) in a layered structure. By simple and fast filtration, a gas-barrier self-assembled layer of variable and appropriate thickness is obtained on a mechanically stable thermoplastic electrospun filter support that subsequently can be laminated adhesively or via hot pressing, even in a multilayer structure, if required. The resulting composite membranes are flexible, strong, transparent, and show enhanced gas-barrier properties.