Printing is an important process not only in art and publishing, where it has been used for centuries, but also in engineering. Functional printing produces 3-D constructs. By adding multiple layers of a 2-D pattern, 3-D objects such as complete electronic components can be created.We adopt this strategy for the fabrication of macroporous membranes. The inks employed in our screen and roller to roller printing processes are polymerisable High and Medium Internal Phase Emulsions (HIPEs and MIPEs). This allows us to turn the printed films into macroporous polymer membranes simply by UV initiated radical polymerisation. By carefully adjusting our formulations we have been able to produce flexible but tough as well as more robust membranes. To evaluate their suitability as pressure sensor and as supports for ultrafiltration membranes the materials have been thoroughly tested with regards to their mechanical performance as well as solvent flux and cut-off properties.

Printed macroporous polymer membranes

245th National Meeting (2013)

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