Fabrication of Nanoporous Polymeric Membranes with Ordered Structures

NATALIA CASÍS; SERGE RABAINE; DIANA ESTENOZ; MARIA MARTA FIDALGO DE CORTALEZZI

Cancún

Congreso; XX International Materials Research Congress; 2011

Materials Research Society

In this work, polymeric porous membranes with 3D ordered structure were fabricated from templates made from silica particles. The templates were obtained by self-assembly technique. For this technique, suspensions of silica particles in ethanol were used to create the deposits. Two different polymers were tested to fabricate membranes: polystyrene (PS) and the diethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (DEGDMA)/urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) copolymer. Monomers were infiltrated in the templates by capillarity and then they were polymerized in an oven at T = 80 ºC. Silica particles were removed by submerging the system (template + polymeric film) in a 5% solution of hydrofluoric acid, forming a porous material. Templates and porous films were observed by SEM to analyze the pore morphology. The observed structures did not suggest significant particle reaccommodation during the monomer filling process. The films exhibited a high surface porosity, resulting from the contact points of particles and glass slides during the infiltration process.