Neck–size Distributions of Through–pores in Polymer Membranes

AbstractThe capillary flow porometry (CFP) is generally used for measuring the bubble point pressure corresponding to largest through pore–size in the membrane. In present work, the CFP technique was used for developing a methodology for determination of the neck–size distributions in the synthetic membranes. It is important as the transport flux across the membrane is controlled by the neck size of through–pores. Therefore the average, maximum and minimum pore sizes and pore–size distribution in these membranes was determined by CFP and compared with different techniques like Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Molecular Weight Cut–off (MWCO). For the MWCO method, the Stokes radius of solute poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) was calculated using the method commonly used, and also confirmed by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS)