Effects of in-situ and ex-situ formation of Silica nanoparticles on Polyethersulfone
membranes
Antony Ananth. Gangasalam Arthanareeswaran. Young Sun Mok
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A. Ananth. Y.S. Mok
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Jeju National University,
Jeju, Republic of Korea-690 756. Tel.: +82 64 754 3682; Fax: +82 64 755 3670.
E-mail address: smokie@jejunu.ac.kr
G. Arthanareeswaran
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India- 620015.
Supporting information
Membrane thickness measurement
The thickness of the pure (PR) membrane was measured by using FESEM and given in Fig.S1. Even though
membrane thickness of 500 μm was chosen in the film applicator, it was about 300 μm as measured by FESEM. It
might be due to the changes occurred (shrinkage) after casting and treatment in the coagulation bath [1].
Crystallinity studies
The crystallinity of SiO2 particles and SiO2/PES membranes was investigated by using an X-ray diffractometer
(D/Max ultima III, Rigaku Corporation, Japan) equipped with monochromatic Cu K α radiation (λ = 0.154 nm)
operated at 40 mA and 40 kV. The diffraction angles were recorded from 10-60° with the step length of 0.02°.
Figure S2 represents the XRD spectra of PR, IS and ES membranes, all of which exhibited the dispersion peaks
corresponding to amorphous state. For pre-synthesized silica particles also, no prominent peaks were appeared
(Figure S2, SiO2) which indicated the retention of amorphous state even after 6 hours of heat treatment at 600°C,
similar pattern of which has been reported by others [2]. The SiO2 particles would have incorporated inside the
membrane matrix and thus peaks were not clearly visible.
References
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Pabisch S, Feichtenschlager B, Kickelbick G, Peterlik H (2012) Effect of interparticle interactions on size
determination of zirconia and silica based systems – A comparison of SAXS, DLS, BET, XRD and TEM. Chem
Phys Lett 521: 91-97 doi: 10.1016/j.cplett.2011.11.049