Preparation and characterization of a novel nano-size titanium oxide-PVA (TiO2-PVA) composite ion exchange membrane

Abstract

This paper presents the synthesis and characterization of Titanium oxide - poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) composite ion exchange membrane. The membrane consists of PVA as the base and titanium oxide, with different concentration, as the ionic conductor. The synthesised membranes were analysed on the basis of intermolecular interactions with the help of FT- IR spectroscopy. Characterization techniques such as SEM and TGA were carried out to analyse surface morphology and thermal properties of the synthesised membranes respectively. Transport number was obtained with the help of two compartment diffusion cell. Important parameters such as the water uptake and methanol uptake were also determined. The results were then compared to those available for a well-known commercial membrane called Nafion®. With the increase in the concentration of ionic conducting material from 0.1 g to 0.3 g in 100 ml of crosslinked - PVA solution, the transport number of the membrane increases from 0.86 to 0.89. Increase in the concentration of ionic conductor shows an insignificant effect on other properties like water uptake and methanol uptake and can be safely ignored. The transport number of the synthesized membranes were close to the transport number of Nafion, while the composite membrane performed better when it came to water uptake and methanol uptake as compared to Nafion.