Synthesis of sphere-like polyelectrolyte complexes and their homogeneous membranes for enhanced pervaporation performances in ethanol dehydration

A series of sphere-like polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) and their homogeneous polyelectrolyte complex membranes (HPECMs) were synthesized by using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCNa) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA). Different compositions or ionic complexation degrees (ICD) of PECs could be characterized by FT-IR spectra. The circular dichroism spectrum (CD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were employed to examine the conformation and morphology of PECs, respectively. Zeta (ζ) potential was utilized to investigate the charge density of PEC particles while the surface hydrophilicity of HPECMs was studied by using contact angle (CA) meter. When subjected to ethanol dehydration, HPECMs revealed a satisfactory pervaporation performance and desired anti-trade-off phenomenon. For HPECM 0.31 and HPECM 0.57, the permeation fluxes were 2.25 kg m −2 h −1 and 2.93 kg m −2 h −1 , and the water content in permeate reached up to 99.35 wt% and 99.38 wt%, with respect to 10 wt% water in feed under 70 °C. All the results indicated that small-sized and sphere-like PECs were truly in favor of enhancing the pervaporation performance in ethanol dehydration.