Papers by Author: Jian Feng Xu

Abstract: In this study, a novel amphiphilic copolymer based on the flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) macroinitiator was successfully prepared by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). First, the high molecular weight bis (hydroxyalkyl)-terminated PDMS was prepared by hydrosilation reaction between hydrogen-terminated PDMS and 2-allyloxyethanol in the presence of Karstedt’s catalyst. The macroinitiator Br-PDMS-Br was prepared by the reaction between different molecular weight bis (hydroxyalkyl)-terminated PDMS and 2-bromoisobutyry bromide. Then the amphiphilic ABA-type block copolymers of poly [dimethylsiloxane-b-(hydroxylethyl methacrylate)] were initiated by bromide end-capped PDMS with HEMA, under an appropriate catalyst/ligand system of CuCl/bpy. The polymerization proceeded with first-order kinetics. It showed that the reaction system was a controlled/‘living’ polymerization. The triblock copolymers were characterized by FTIR, ¹H-NMR, TGA and GPC techniques. GPC results showed the tribolck copolymer had narrow polydispersity of Mw/Mn (PDI<1.5). TGA results showed the good thermal stability of the triblock copolymer.

Abstract: Polyethersulfone (PES) flat sheet membranes were prepared via phase inversion induced by immersion precipitation from a novel lower critical solution temperature (LCST) system containing PES, 1-butanol and N, N-dimethylacetamide. And the effect of coagulation bath temperature on the properties and structure of PES membranes were investigated. The results show that the pure water flux increases and the tensile strength decreases as the coagulation temperature increases form 20°C to 50°C. Besides, the SEM images shows that all of the membranes prepared from a LCST system at different CBT own sponge-like structures.