The development of new sustainable fabrication techniques for the synthesis of porous polymer membranes is important for various applications such as separations and tissue engineering. Here we develop a modified initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) process for the fabrication of porous polymer membranes with well-controlled morphology and surface properties. In our system, first monomer is deposited as solid microstructues by keeping the monomer partial pressure and substrate temperature below the triple point pressure and temperature of the monomer. Polymerization then occurs via the free radical mechanism by thermally cleaving the vapor-phase initiator. Subsequent sublimation of the unreacted monomer results in dual scale porosity membranes. We show that process parameters such as substrate temperature can be modified in order to control the morphology and kinetics of polymerization. We also demonstrate that we can increase the conversion and throughput of the process by recycling the monomer. The surface properties of the membranes can further be tuned by adding a conformal coating onto the surface. Our process provides an eco-friendly route to synthesizing functional porous membranes without the use of solvents or surfactants.

Sustainable solventless approach to fabricate porous polymer membranes

2019 Fall National Meeting

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