Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane fabrication with an ionic liquid via non-solvent thermally induced phase separation (N-TIPs)

In this paper, ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate was the first time successfully utilized as single solvent in preparing the PVDF membrane with a good performance by N-TIPs method. The effects of quenching temperature and hydrophilic additive content on the morphology, permeability, and strength of the membranes were studied. All the prepared PVDF membranes were proved to be a pure beta phase by FTIR and XRD, possessing a narrow pore size distribution. By adjusting quenching temperature and additive content, membranes with a flux of 383.2 L/m(2) h and concentrated pore diameter of 26 nm obtained.

Automated summary

In this study, the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate was successfully used as a single solvent in preparing high-performance PVDF membranes through the N-TIPs method. By adjusting the quenching temperature and additive content, PVDF membranes with a narrow pore size distribution and high flux were obtained.