Charged polymer membranes are a promising material for the desalination of aqueous systems in a process that can used for the purification of drinking water as well as the desalination of fermentation broths and road runoff. Previously, work with charged membranes for water desalination has suffered from ill-defined morphologies and a lack of mechanical integrity. Many of the membranes also require harsh conditions for functionalization and are often processed in a charged state, which brings an added level of difficulty. We have developed new block polymer systems that are easily processable in a neutral state using a controlled radical polymerization approach with substituted styrenic monomers. After casting solid thin films, we transform the polymers to charged species using mild conditions with readily available reagents. Preliminary work used reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization to grow the block polymers in a controlled manner, which then self-assemble into a variety of thin film morphologies. Subsequent functionalization is performed in a single step in the solid state to yield both positive and negative charged domains while maintaining the initial morphology. By incorporating the charged groups into a composite membrane, we aim to create high efficiency water desalination membranes.

Postpolymerization modification strategy to solid state block polyelectrolytes

2019 Spring National Meeting

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