Comparative Studies on Morphological, Electrochemical, and Mechanical Properties of S-Polyvinyl Chloride Based Heterogeneous Cation-Exchange Membranes with Different Resin Ratio Loading

Heterogeneous types of ion exchange membranes were prepared from S-polyvinyl chloride (S-PVC) as binder and tetrahydrofuran as solvent. Cation exchange resin powder was used in casting solutions to make ion exchange membranes with cationic functional groups. The relationship between resin ratio loading and morphological, electrochemical, and mechanical properties of prepared membranes were studied and evaluated. Membrane potential measurements were performed in monovalent (NaCl) and bivalent (BaCl2) electrolyte solutions in order to observe the selectivity of these membranes for different types of counterions. The results reveal that an increment of resin ratio loading leads to an increase of ion exchange capacity, fixed ion concentration, ionic permeability, current efficiency, water content, hydrophilicity, transport number, conductivity, and specific surface area for prepared membranes. However, the electrical resistance, energy consumption, membrane oxidative stability, and mechanical properties were decreased. Moreover, prepared membranes show different properties for monovalent (Na+) ions and bivalent (Ba2+) ions.