Influence of Solvent and Thickness Variation on the Performance of Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) Polymer Membrane

This study involves the synthesis and characterisation of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) polymer membrane by using breath figure method. The study was performed mainly to investigate the effect of solvent (acetone to NMP ratio of 100:0, 40:60, 50:50 and 60:40) and thickness (20 mu m, 25 mu m, 30 mu m and 40 mu m) variation on the performance of PVDF-HFP membrane. The different membrane samples were fabricated and characterised by different techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), porosity and mechanical strength. The mechanical stability of the membranes was mainly found to be thickness dependent, whereas the solvent variation has shown significant effect on the porosity, thickness and morphology of the prepared membranes. The highest porosity of 81.6% was obtained with acetone to NMP ratio of 40:60 compared to 53.4% of pure acetone based membrane. In addition, the 30-mu m thickness membrane was the second highest in mechanical strength compared to 40-mu m membrane; however, its highest porosity of 70.7% has given it an added advantage and makes it a strong choice to consider as a porous membrane for various applications.