Microstructure of cation exchange membranes prepared by the paste method

✍ Scribed by Yukio Mizutani; Masakatsu Nishimura

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 571 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.1980.070251222

✦ Synopsis

The microstructure of a cation-exchange membrane (Neosepta CL-25T) prepared by the paste method was investigated by microscopic examination, x-ray microanalysis, scanning electron microscopic observation, and determination of pore size distribution of the porous membrane obtained by selective decomposition of the cation-exchange resin component (R-resin) of the membrane. Both the cloth part and the other part were characterized by uniform distributions of the colloidal R-resin (under 0.1 pm) in poly(viny1 chloride) (PVC). This structural feature made it possible to understand comprehensively the properties of the cation exchange membranes prepared by the paste method. The mechanism of the formation of such microheterogeneity is explained in terms of the microphase separation of the styrene (St)-divinylbenzene (DVB) copolymer from PVC during polymerization.