Increased hydrophilicity of lignin-derivable vs. bisphenol-based polysulfones for potential water filtration applications
Date
2024-09-18
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
RSC Sustainability
Abstract
The functionality inherent in lignin-derivable aromatics (e.g., polar methoxy groups) can provide a potential opportunity to improve the hydrophilicity of polysulfones (PSfs) without the need for the additional processing steps and harsh reagents/conditions that are typically used in conventional PSf modifications. As determined herein, lignin-derivable PSfs without any post-polymerization modification exhibited higher hydrophilicity than comparable petroleum-based PSfs (commercial/laboratory-synthesized) and also demonstrated similar hydrophilicity to functionalized BPA-PSfs reported in the literature. Importantly, the lignin-derivable PSfs displayed improved thermal properties relative to functionalized BPA-PSfs in the literature, and the thermal properties of these bio-derivable PSfs were close to those of common non-functionalized PSfs. In particular, the glass transition temperature (Tg) and degradation temperature of 5% weight loss (Td5%) of lignin-derivable PSfs (Tg ∼165–170 °C, Td5% ∼400–425 °C) were significantly higher than those of typical functionalized BPA-PSfs in the literature (Tg ∼110–160 °C, Td5% ∼240–260 °C) and close to those of unmodified, commercial/laboratory-synthesized BPA-/bisphenol F-PSfs (Tg ∼180–185 °C, Td5% ∼420–510 °C).
Sustainability spotlight
Commercial bisphenol A-polysulfones (BPA-PSfs) are hydrophobic in nature, and post-polymerization modification is often required to increase the hydrophilicity of commercial PSfs for water filtration applications. Such PSf modification adds extra processing steps and often requires harsh reaction conditions/reagents, and these extra functionalization steps also have a detrimental effect on application-specific thermal properties. Herein, bio-derivable PSfs were synthesized using potentially safer, lignin-derivable bisguaiacols. Notably, the lignin-derivable PSfs, without any post-polymerization modification, demonstrated similar hydrophilicity to functionalized BPA-PSfs reported in the literature, and they also exhibited improved thermal properties relative to functionalized BPA-PSfs. Moreover, the thermal properties of bio-derivable PSfs remained close to those of commercial BPA-PSfs. Overall, this work is aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 12 (responsible consumption and production of chemicals).
Description
This article was originally published in RSC Sustainability. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SU00314D.
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/).
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Citation
Mahajan, Jignesh S., Hoda Shokrollahzadeh Behbahani, Matthew D. Green, LaShanda T. J. Korley, and Thomas H. Epps. “Increased Hydrophilicity of Lignin-Derivable vs. Bisphenol-Based Polysulfones for Potential Water Filtration Applications.” RSC Sustainability 2, no. 10 (2024): 2844–50. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SU00314D.