Cellulose triacetate properties and their effect on the thin films morphology and performance

Development of a novel class of thin film for performing cations separation is reported. The thin film is polymerized from cellulose triacetate (CTA) with a tributyl phosphate (TBP) as carrier. Transport of lead and cadmium ions in two different membrane systems (Polymer Inclusion Membrane (PIM) and Supported Liquid Membrane (SLM) using TBP as carrier and 2nitro phenyl octyl ether (NPOE) or Trisethylhexylphosphate (TEHP) as plasticizer has been investigated. The membranes CTA-NPOE-Carrier and CTA-TEHP-Carrier were synthesised and characterised using chemical techniques as well as FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). CTA membrane is characterised by well-defined pores, these pores which are completely filled with plasticizer and carrier. Surfaces of membranes with TBP are smooth. The systems constituted by the mixture of CTA-NPOE and CTA-NPOE-TBP do not give any diffraction peak. The influence of the membrane nature has been studied using three supports of different physical characteristics. The obtained results showed that for Pb2+ ion, the concentrations of strip phase increases using synthesized membranes.