Fabrication and Characterization of PVDF with an Additive of Nanozeolite via Electrospinning and Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) Process

Mapúa University, School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering and Sciences, 658 Muralla St., Intramuros Manila, 1002 Philippines

^* Corresponding author: rraquino@mapua.edu.ph

Abstract

In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride with an additive of nanozeolite (PVDF/NZ) membranes were prepared, characterized and evaluated. The concentrations of the nanozeolite incorporated into PVDF were varied from 0.25%, 0.50% and 0.75 % with N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent and the corresponding effects of nanozeolite on the polymer matrix were investigated in terms of performance and properties. There are two methods in preparing the membranes, namely: Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) and electrospinning. The hydrophobicity of the membranes was characterized by contact angle, the surface morphology using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and the mechanical properties by Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The presence of organic and inorganic matter was investigated using Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR). The SEM images of both fabricated nanocomposite membranes showed that after the addition of nanozeolite particles into PVDF matrix has affected the surface morphology, flat-sheet resulted decreasing in porous and electrospun resulted less beads and increasing fiber diameter after adding an extra amount of nanozeolite. The chemical bond or molecular structure of flat-sheet and electrospun membranes obtained same functional groups, however the electrospun resulted a high absorption of alkanes. The contact angle of both nanocomposite fabricated membranes exhibited an increasing contact angle, yet the PVDF/0.75NZ of electrospun membrane obtained higher hydrophobic surface compared to others. The result of UTM showed that on flat-sheet, the tensile strength was obtained by pure PVDF membrane while the PVDF/0.25NZ of electrospun membrane was able to achieve an optimum tensile strength. In fact, the tensile strength via NIPS need to be improved.