Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Engineering (MSE)
Department
Chemical Engineering
Committee Chair
Paresh Kumar Samantaray
Committee Member
Cheng Chen
Committee Member
Anu Subramanian
Committee Member
Agnieszka Truszkowska
Research Advisor
Paresh Kumar Samantaray
Subject(s)
Membrane separation, Polymers, Polymer networks
Abstract
The increasing demand for environmentally friendly and sustainable water treatment technologies drives the development of membranes that work to balance mechanical durability, tunable selectivity, and long-term stability. In this exploratory work, an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) membrane system composed of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) and poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) was developed to provide a more compostable and compatible platform for advanced separation applications. While the compostability of the entire framework was not tested, the dominant presence of PBAT in the matrix makes the membrane intrinsically favorable for composting. Mechanochemical Ionic Electrochromic Generators (IEGens) were synthesized and incorporated into the PBAT backbone for the potential use in creating a real-time functional response to processing stress while also preserving the network’s integrity. The preliminary chemical structure confirmation through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis suggests successful polymerization of HEMA and integration of IEGens, and suggests the presence of both pHEMA and PBAT polymers in the IPN systems. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to predict the incorporation of pHEMA and IEGens the possibly reduced PBAT’s crystallinity while still being able to maintain melting temperatures near 128-131 °C, suggesting the disruption of crystallization without compromising the membranes' thermal transitions. Preliminary surface characterization results indicated that IEGen functionalization enhanced the PBAT-IPN(HEMA)’s hydrophilicity, reducing the water contact angles from ~83 ° to ~72 ° and ~71 ° in PBAT-IEGen-o-IPN(HEMA) and PBAT-IEGen-y-IPN(HEMA), respectively. Early-stage static model dye adsorption studies also indicated high affinity for cationic and anionic dyes at 0.1 ppm, but further testing should be conducted to fully compare the adsorption capacity of each individual IPN. Even though this study has several limitations, including a limited sample size, limited exploration of biodegradability, and limited mechanical stability testing, the suggestive trends in this work position it as a promising pathway toward next-generation sustainable membrane systems.
Recommended Citation
Holshouser, Hailey, "Exploring interpenetrating networks derived from compostable polymers in separations" (2026). Theses. 823.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/823