A facile method to prepare composite and porous polyphosphazene membranes and investigation of their properties

Polyphosphazene/SiO2 composite membranes and porous polyphosphazene membranes were prepared and their properties were studied in detail. In this work, linear polyphosphazenes with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) and n-butylamino side groups were prepared via the nucleophilic substitution reaction. The substituted polyphosphazenes were cross-linked by the hydrolysis of triethoxysilanes to form polyphosphazene/SiO2 composite membranes. When the as-prepared polyphosphazene/SiO2 composites were treated with HF, the silica dissolved and porous polyphosphazene membranes formed subsequently. Their structures and morphologies were studied by IR, DSA, DMA, XPS and SEM. And their mechanical properties were investigated as well. It could be seen that the thermal stability, the contact angles and the mechanical properties changed with the ratio of APTS. Namely, the contact angle changed from 74 degrees to 96 degrees, and the initial decomposition temperature increased from 170 degrees C to 225 degrees C when the ratio of APTS increased. Besides, the glass transition temperature increased from -48 degrees C to 31 degrees C after the membranes were cross-linked.