Tailoring pore distribution in polymer films via evaporation induced phase separation
TLDR
In this paper, a mixture of poly(methyl methacrylate)-tetrahydrofuran-water (PMMA-THF-H2O) mixture is used to tune the distribution of pores in polymer films formed via evaporation induced phase separation.Abstract:
By considering a mixture of poly(methyl methacrylate)–tetrahydrofuran–water (PMMA–THF–H2O), we report an experimental approach to tune the distribution of pores in polymer films formed via evaporation induced phase separation (EIPS). We show that the drying induced composition and microstructural changes that occur due to the evaporation of the solvent (THF) and the nonsolvent (H2O) delineate the ultimate polymer film morphology. The temporal evolution of the microstructure, the phase behavior and the change in the composition of the PMMA–THF–H2O mixture at air–solution (top surface) and solution–substrate (bottom surface) interfaces is monitored to provide insights into the origin of the pore distribution in the final polymer films. The effects of various parameters such as nonsolvent and polymer concentration in the casting solution, casting solution thickness, relative humidity and temperature on the final film morphology are investigated to correlate how the composition path (CP) change under various conditions ultimately dictates the film morphology. We show that depending on the change in the composition of the polymer solution (evolution of CP) and the water/PMMA ratio at the time of phase separation, the morphology of the final film formed varies as – (1) non porous i.e., dense film (2) a film with pores only at the bottom surface (3) an asymmetric film i.e., films with a top dense layer (non-porous) supported by porous sub-layers (4) a porous film with uniform pores distributed across the entire film thickness and (5) a film with pores only at the top surface. In addition, we show that the morphology of the PMMA film can also be tuned by varying the composition of low and high molecular weight PMMA in the casting solution. These porous PMMA structures, being biocompatible, are useful for applications in cell culture, drug delivery and wound dressing.read more
Citations
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Development of porous and flexible ptmc membranes for in vitro organ models fabricated by evaporation-induced phase separation
Thijs Pasman,Danielle Baptista,Sander van Riet,Roman Truckenmüller,Pieter S. Hiemstra,Robbert J. Rottier,Dimitrios Stamatialis,André A. Poot +7 more
TL;DR: This work aims to develop porous membranes for organ models based on poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC), a flexible polymer with good cell adhesive properties which has been used for tissue engineering scaffolds, but not in in vitro organ models.
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Biobased polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) membranes: Structure/performances relationship
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Deep eutectic solvent-assisted phase separation in chitosan solutions for the production of 3D monoliths and films with tailored porosities.
Luis Humberto Delgado-Rangel,Alejandro Huerta-Saquero,Nancy Eufracio-García,Anaid Meza-Villezcas,Josué D. Mota-Morales,J. Betzabe González-Campos +5 more
TL;DR: This is a versatile and unexplored approach to design porous chitosan with tailored morphology in the absence of crosslinkers, which is expected to open new avenues for various applications in biomedical, catalysis, water purification, filtration and other areas where the control of bacterial biofilm formation is critical.
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