title: Facile Fabrication of Composite Membranes with Dual Thermo- and pH-Responsive Characteristics.
abstract: Facile fabrication of novel functional membranes with excellent dual thermo- and pH-responsive characteristics has been achieved by simply designing dual-layer composite membranes. pH-Responsive poly(styrene)-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) block copolymers and polystyrene blended with thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) nanogels are respectively used to construct the top layer and bottom layer of composite membranes. The stretching/coiling conformation changes of the P4VP chains around the pKa(∼3.5-4.5) provide the composite membranes with extraordinary pH-responsive characteristics, and the volume phase transitions of PNIPAM nanogels at the pore/matrix interfaces in the bottom layer around the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT, ∼33 °C) provide the composite membranes with great thermoresponsive characteristics. The microstructures, permeability performances, and dual stimuli-responsive characteristics can be well tuned by adjusting the content of PNIPAM nanogels and the thickness of the PS-b-P4VP top layer. The water fluxes of the composite membranes can be changed in order of magnitude by changing the environment temperature and pH, and the dual thermo- and pH-responsive permeation performances of the composite membranes are satisfactorily reversible and reproducible. The membrane fabrication strategy in this work provides valuable guidance for further development of dual stimuli-responsive membranes or even multi stimuli-responsive membranes.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University , Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Jie
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yu-Qiong
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University , Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University , Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University , No. 24, Southern 1 Section, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.|State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University , Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, P. R. China.|Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) , Nanjing, Jiangsu 211816, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Liang-Yin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2676-6325
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Chu
keywords: composite membranes; dual thermo-/pH-response; nanogels; responsive membranes; self-assembly