Self-Supporting pH-Responsive Porous Membranes from Copolymers Ethyl Cellulose-g-PDEAEMA

Self-supporting pH-responsive porous membranes of ethyl cellulose graft poly(2-(diethylamino)) ethyl methacrylate (EC-g-PDEAEMA) were prepared via the Non-Solvent-Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) process from mixtures of THF and DMF. The pH-responsive polymers (EC-g-PDEAEMA) were synthesized via Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) and evidenced by 1H NMR spectroscopy and FT-IR spectra. The morphologies of the porous films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and polarized optical microscopy. These results indicated that the size and the number of pores in the membranes as well as the flux values were larger along with the decrease of THF content and “Open time.” The optimum preparation conditions for microfiltration membrane were obtained.