Polydimethylsiloxane membrane formed by thiol-ene photopolymerization for bio-alcohols pervaporation

Pervaporation (PV) membranes dominate the PV separation process. However, traditional preparation methods are usually low-efficient and time-consuming. Herein, we reported thiol-ene photopolymerization for fabricating PV membranes which had advantages in low shrinkage and low oxygen sensitivity compared with other photocuring systems. The membrane preparation could be completely finished within 10 s. In addition, the prepared PV membranes showed an excellent performance in separating bio-alcohols (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and 2-butanol) and have a superior operation stability during 120 h. The thiol-ene method provides a universal strategy for fabricating PV separation membranes.