A Study of PNIPAM/SA Hydrogel Ratio for Immobilization of Silver Nanoparticles on Composite Membrane

This research is aimed to study the ratio of PNIPAM/SA hydrogel for immobilization of silver nanoparticles on a composite membrane. Polyethersulfone membrane is initially coated with ene-functionalized dopamine. The hydrogel layer was systhesized by copolymerization between N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM) and Sodium acrylate (SA) and then coated on the membrane by Free-radical crosslinking copolymerization followed by absorbing Ag ions onto the membrane. In this study, we choose to synthesize hydrogels from NIPAM and SA at a concentration ratio of 80/20 %mol. The results show that hydrogels are able to adhere to the membrane and by testing with XRD, it is found that Ag is adsorbed onto the membrane surface.