SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMERIC MEMBRANES

Aromatic poly(ether sulfone)s (PES)s are engineering thermoplastic materials with excellent chemical and thermal stability as well as high glass transition temperature, excellent strength and flexibility, transparency, as well as a good film forming properties. PESs have obtained wide use in many fields, both scientific and industrial: separation membranes (solid-gas, solid-liquid), metal- metal adhesives, composites, toughening agents for thermosetting resins [1, 2], membranes for proteins recovery. Lack of hydrophilic groups and the closing arrangement of macromolecular chains lead to the poor hydrophilicity for PES. One way to avoid this could be to make the membrane partially hydrophilic. A wide range of PES based copolymers was synthesized and characterized, exploiting various reaction paths. The insertion of carboxyl and sulfonic groups and their effects on the behaviors of the polymers was verified and applied to the engineering of different kind of membranes for different applications.