Preparation of Temperature-Sensitive Inverse Macroporous Membranes Using Silica Spheres as a Template

Abstract

The temperature-sensitive inverse macroporous membranes containing thermo-responsive poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) were prepared by a template of silica microspheres. The inverse membranes were characterized by SEM, FTIR and contact angle measurements. The PNIPAM containing inverse macroporous membranes had different pore diameters at different temperatures and could be used for separation. The conductivity was measured to characterize the temperature-responsive behavior and permeability of this inverse macroporous membranes. Due to variable pore sizes, the membranes exhibited specific temperature-responsive permeability. This strategy presented here is a simple, low-cost, and controllable alternative for fluidic applications, such as the separation of particles.

Keywords:

• Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)
• thermo-responsive
• macroporous membranes
• separation of particles

Additional information

Funding

This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21874078, 22074072), the Taishan Young Scholar Program of Shandong Province (tsqn20161027), the Major Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shandong Province (2018CXGC1407), the Key Research and Development Project of Shandong Province (2016GGX102028, 2016GGX102039, 2017GGX20111), and the First Class Discipline Project of Shandong Province.