Deterministic and stochastic modeling of polymerization kinetics with membrane applications

Abstract

Atmospheric pressure plasma induced graft polymerization, an uncontrolled polymerization technique, of two monomers was attempted from the surface of commercial poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membranes: hexyl methacrylate (C6) and stearyl methacrylate (C18). It was shown that water is ineffective at removing physically adsorbed material via an Attenuated Total Reflectance – Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) study. Ethanol was herein experimentally verified to remove such physically adsorbed species and eliminate “false – positive” conclusions regarding the grafting of these monomers.