Shape memory and molecularly imprinted porous polyvinyl alcohol composite membrane to detect glyphosate in water

To develop portable materials for rapid pollutant detection, a high-porosity, good shape-memory, and molecularly imprinted composite membranes were prepared by combination of synthetic polymer (P-P-PAA), molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The addition of P-P-PAA enhanced the porosity of the porous P-P-PAA/PVA membrane from 84.96 % to 98.41 %, which arrived at the highest, and the mechanical properties were improved to 1.65 MPa and 154.9 %. The membrane achieved shape recovery within 20 s via the external water stimuli. Compared to the imprinted PVA, the imprinted composite membrane enhanced detectability and speed for Glyphosate (GLY) which reached 50 mg/g within 30 min. Overall, this work successfully developed a shape-memory porous imprinting membrane, which not only offers a new strategy for enhancing detection efficiency but also promotes the advancement of smart membrane materials for on-site water quality monitoring.