Polymeric membranes through self-initiation and self-polymerization for high-performance bioethanol pervaporation

Polymeric membranes are in great demand for biofuels, and ultraviolet (UV)-induced crosslinking currently shows a controllable and ultrafast ability for their fabrication, whereas the weak compatibility between the photoinitiator (PI) and polymer remains a great challenge in the large-scale supply of membranes. Herein, we report a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) prepolymer simultaneously functionalized with a PI and photocrosslinker, which endows the prepolymer with self-initiation and self-polymerization properties, respectively. The chemically grafted PI shows a stable and homogeneous distribution over 10 days with a superhigh loading (>5 wt%), which provides an extremely high initiation efficiency. Accordingly, the self-initiated/self-polymerized membranes exhibit an excellent comprehensive performance for bioethanol enrichment compared with the state-of-the-art polymeric membranes. Our PI-polymer design provides a general framework for the high-efficiency fabrication of polymeric membranes.

Automated summary

Polymeric membranes are in high demand for biofuels. UV-induced crosslinking offers a controllable and ultrafast method for membrane fabrication, but the poor compatibility between the photoinitiator and polymer poses a challenge for large-scale production. In this study, we develop a polydimethylsiloxane prepolymer functionalized with both a photoinitiator and photocrosslinker, allowing for self-initiation and self-polymerization. The resulting membranes exhibit excellent performance for bioethanol enrichment compared to current polymeric membranes.