Preparation of microporous silicone rubber membrane with tunable pore size via solvent evaporation-induced phase separation.

Silicone rubber membrane with ordered micropores in the surface was prepared by means of the solvent evaporation-induced phase separation. A ternary solution including liquid silicone rubber precursor, liquid paraffin, and hexane was cast to form a film with a two-phase structure after the hexane was evaporated. The micropores were generated by removing liquid paraffin phase in the cured silicone rubber film. The effects of the liquid paraffin concentration, casting temperature, initial casting solution thickness, air circulation, and addition of surfactant Span-80 on the pore structure in the membrane surface were investigated. The average pore size increases with increasing liquid paraffin concentration or the initial casting solution thickness. The formation of pore structure in the membrane surface is related to the phase separation and thus the phase separation process of the casting solution surface was in situ observed using the digital microscope. The formation mechanism of pore is attributed to a nucleation, growth, and coalescence process of liquid paraffin phase in the membrane surface.

[1]  E. Drioli,et al.  The dry phase inversion technique as a tool to produce highly efficient asymmetric gas separation membranes of modified PEEK. Influence of temperature and air circulation , 2006 .

[2]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Poly(dimethylsiloxane) as a material for fabricating microfluidic devices. , 2002, Accounts of chemical research.

[3]  H. Matsuyama,et al.  Membrane formation and structure development by dry-cast process , 1997 .

[4]  Matthias Wessling,et al.  Hierarchically Structured Assembly of Polymer Microsieves, made by a Combination of Phase Separation Micromolding and Float‐Casting , 2012, Advanced materials.

[5]  David Wood,et al.  Porous PDMS force sensitive resistors , 2009 .

[6]  Ahmad Fauzi Ismail,et al.  Review on the development of defect-free and ultrathin-skinned asymmetric membranes for gas separation through manipulation of phase inversion and rheological factors , 2003 .

[7]  Takaomi Kobayashi,et al.  Porous polydimethylsiloxane membranes for enzyme immobilization , 1996 .

[8]  S. Nunes,et al.  Evidence for spinodal decomposition and nucleation and growth mechanisms during membrane formation , 1996 .

[9]  Matthias Wessling,et al.  Micropatterned polymer films by vapor-induced phase separation using permeable molds. , 2009, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[10]  B. Ozbas,et al.  Modeling of asymmetric membrane formation by dry-casting method , 2004 .

[11]  Younan Xia,et al.  Monodispersed Colloidal Spheres: Old Materials with New Applications , 2000 .

[12]  Mark E. Davis.  Ordered porous materials for emerging applications , 2002, Nature.

[13]  V. Musil,et al.  Polymeric membrane formation by wet-phase separation; turbidity and shrinkage phenomena as evidence for the elementary processes , 2000 .

[14]  P. Dijkstra,et al.  Formation of porous membranes for drug delivery systems , 1993 .

[15]  David J Mooney,et al.  Salt fusion: an approach to improve pore interconnectivity within tissue engineering scaffolds. , 2002, Tissue engineering.

[16]  Mohan Srinivasarao,et al.  Three-Dimensionally Ordered Array of Air Bubbles in a Polymer Film , 2001, Science.

[17]  M. Ohshima,et al.  Preparation of a unique microporous structure via two step phase separation in the course of drying a ternary polymer solution. , 2007, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[18]  Jun Onodera,et al.  Biodegradable honeycomb collagen scaffold for dermal tissue engineering. , 2008, Journal of biomedical materials research. Part A.

[19]  S. Sakurai,et al.  Control of mesh pattern of surface corrugation via rate of solvent evaporation in solution casting of polymer film in the presence of convection , 2002 .

[20]  Kelly L Smith,et al.  Asymmetric-membrane tablet coatings for osmotic drug delivery , 1995 .

[21]  M. Ulbricht.  Advanced functional polymer membranes , 2006 .

[22]  S. Madihally,et al.  Porous chitosan scaffolds for tissue engineering. , 1999, Biomaterials.

[23]  R. Benavente,et al.  Syndiotactic polypropylene as potential material for the preparation of porous membranes via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) process , 2005 .

[24]  W. Krantz,et al.  Dense polymer film and membrane formation via the dry-cast process part II. Model validation and morphological studies , 1994 .

[25]  Kexin Jiao,et al.  Modulating molecular and nanoparticle transport in flexible polydimethylsiloxane membranes. , 2012, Journal of membrane science.

[26]  H. Matsuyama,et al.  Phase separation mechanism during membrane formation by dry-cast process , 2000 .

[27]  Neil R. Cameron,et al.  High internal phase emulsion templating as a route to well-defined porous polymers , 2005 .

[28]  Enrico Drioli,et al.  High flux asymmetric gas separation membranes of modified poly(ether ether ketone) prepared by the dry phase inversion technique , 2005 .

[29]  I. Pinnau,et al.  Influence of quench medium on the structures and gas permeation properties of polysulfone membranes made by wet and dry/wet phase inversion , 1992 .

[30]  Jeremiah J. Zartman,et al.  Macrovoid growth during polymer membrane casting , 2002 .