Probing the Internal Microstructure of Polyamide Thin-Film Composite Membranes Using Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering

Tyler E. Culp; Dan Ye; Mou Paul; Abhishek Roy; Michael J. Behr; Steve Jons; Steve Rosenberg; Cheng Wang; Esther W. Gomez; Manish Kumar; Enrique D. Gomez

doi:10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00301

Probing the Internal Microstructure of Polyamide Thin-Film Composite Membranes Using Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering

Tyler E. Culp, Dan Ye, Mou Paul, Abhishek Roy, Michael J. Behr, Steve Jons, Steve Rosenberg, Cheng Wang, Esther W. Gomez, Manish Kumar, Enrique D. Gomez

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Characterization of the internal morphology of thin film composite membranes used in reverse osmosis (RO) is a prerequisite for understanding the connection between microstructure and water transport properties and is necessary for the design of membranes with improved performance. Here, we examine a series of fully aromatic polyamide active layers of RO membranes that vary in crosslinking using a combination of resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Analysis of RSoXS profiles reveals a correlation between membrane structure and crosslinking density. Through a combination of scattering contrast calculations, TEM, and AFM micrographs, we assign the dominant contribution to RSoXS data as either surface roughness or chemical heterogeneity, depending on the X-ray energy used. Altogether, our results demonstrate the utility of soft X-ray scattering to examine the microstructure of water filtration membranes.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	927-932
Number of pages	6
Journal	ACS Macro Letters
Volume	7
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00301
State	Published - Aug 21 2018

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Organic Chemistry
Polymers and Plastics
Inorganic Chemistry
Materials Chemistry

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10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00301

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@article{07b43f78c2f247129e57aad691215dab,

title = "Probing the Internal Microstructure of Polyamide Thin-Film Composite Membranes Using Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering",

abstract = "Characterization of the internal morphology of thin film composite membranes used in reverse osmosis (RO) is a prerequisite for understanding the connection between microstructure and water transport properties and is necessary for the design of membranes with improved performance. Here, we examine a series of fully aromatic polyamide active layers of RO membranes that vary in crosslinking using a combination of resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Analysis of RSoXS profiles reveals a correlation between membrane structure and crosslinking density. Through a combination of scattering contrast calculations, TEM, and AFM micrographs, we assign the dominant contribution to RSoXS data as either surface roughness or chemical heterogeneity, depending on the X-ray energy used. Altogether, our results demonstrate the utility of soft X-ray scattering to examine the microstructure of water filtration membranes.",

author = "Culp, \{Tyler E.\} and Dan Ye and Mou Paul and Abhishek Roy and Behr, \{Michael J.\} and Steve Jons and Steve Rosenberg and Cheng Wang and Gomez, \{Esther W.\} and Manish Kumar and Gomez, \{Enrique D.\}",

note = "Funding Information: Financial support from The Dow Chemical Company under Agreement No. 225559AK/177526 is gratefully acknowledged. D.Y. acknowledges partial support from the Advanced Light Source Doctoral Fellowship in Residence. The authors thank Tawanda Zimudzi for help with FTIR experiments. The authors also thank the staff at the Materials Characterization Laboratory of the Pennsylvania State University for generous support and assistance with TEM experiments. The Advanced Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the United States Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2018",

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doi = "10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00301",

language = "English (US)",

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AU - Culp, Tyler E.

AU - Ye, Dan

AU - Paul, Mou

AU - Roy, Abhishek

AU - Behr, Michael J.

AU - Jons, Steve

AU - Rosenberg, Steve

AU - Wang, Cheng

AU - Gomez, Esther W.

AU - Kumar, Manish

AU - Gomez, Enrique D.

N1 - Funding Information: Financial support from The Dow Chemical Company under Agreement No. 225559AK/177526 is gratefully acknowledged. D.Y. acknowledges partial support from the Advanced Light Source Doctoral Fellowship in Residence. The authors thank Tawanda Zimudzi for help with FTIR experiments. The authors also thank the staff at the Materials Characterization Laboratory of the Pennsylvania State University for generous support and assistance with TEM experiments. The Advanced Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the United States Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2018/8/21

Y1 - 2018/8/21

N2 - Characterization of the internal morphology of thin film composite membranes used in reverse osmosis (RO) is a prerequisite for understanding the connection between microstructure and water transport properties and is necessary for the design of membranes with improved performance. Here, we examine a series of fully aromatic polyamide active layers of RO membranes that vary in crosslinking using a combination of resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Analysis of RSoXS profiles reveals a correlation between membrane structure and crosslinking density. Through a combination of scattering contrast calculations, TEM, and AFM micrographs, we assign the dominant contribution to RSoXS data as either surface roughness or chemical heterogeneity, depending on the X-ray energy used. Altogether, our results demonstrate the utility of soft X-ray scattering to examine the microstructure of water filtration membranes.

AB - Characterization of the internal morphology of thin film composite membranes used in reverse osmosis (RO) is a prerequisite for understanding the connection between microstructure and water transport properties and is necessary for the design of membranes with improved performance. Here, we examine a series of fully aromatic polyamide active layers of RO membranes that vary in crosslinking using a combination of resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Analysis of RSoXS profiles reveals a correlation between membrane structure and crosslinking density. Through a combination of scattering contrast calculations, TEM, and AFM micrographs, we assign the dominant contribution to RSoXS data as either surface roughness or chemical heterogeneity, depending on the X-ray energy used. Altogether, our results demonstrate the utility of soft X-ray scattering to examine the microstructure of water filtration membranes.

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Probing the Internal Microstructure of Polyamide Thin-Film Composite Membranes Using Resonant Soft X-ray Scattering

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