Polyamide nanocomposite films were prepared from nanometer sized silica particles and trimesoyl
chloride–m-phenylene diamine based polyamides. The type of silica nanoparticles used is commercial
LUDOX® HS-40 and the particle size characterized by the radius of gyration
(Rg) is about 66 Å. The immediately prepared films were easily broken into particles to form colloidal-like dilute suspension
of the silica–polyamide composite particles in D2O–H2O solutions for SANS measurements, that in this
dilute system SANS data the complication of scattering data from the interacting particles is minimized.
At about 60% D2O of the sample solution, the silica is contrasted out, therefore the SANS profiles are
predominantly from the organic polyamide scattering. The SANS profile of the sample solutions measured
at 90% D2O clearly indicates scattering from both silica and polymer. The scattering heterogeneities
for two-phase system were evident from the validity of the Debye–Bueche expression in case of the
nanocomposite with high silica loading. At limited silica loading of the nanocomposite, interaction
between the silica and polymer chains forming core–shell morphology was observed. The transport
properties of the membranes made from the nanocomposite films were measured on a batch type test
kit with an aqueous solution of 500 ppm dioxane concentration at pressures ranging from 50 to 200 psig,
and correlated to their composite structure.
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