30 International Journal of Membrane Science and Technology, Special Issue, Nov.-2015, 2, 30-38 E-ISSN: 2410-1869/15 © 2015 Cosmos Scholars Publishing House Mechanics and Pervaporation Performance of Ionic Liquid Modified CNT Based SBR Membranes - A Case Study for the Separation of Toluene/Heptane Mixtures Jiji Abraham 1 , Thomasukutty Jose 2 , Soney C George 2,* , Nandakumar Kalarikkal 1 and Sabu Thomas 1 1 International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, P.D Hills, Kottayam, Kerala, 686560, India 2 Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kottaya, Kerala, India Abstract: SBR/ionic liquid modified CNT Nanocomposites were prepared using different concentration of CNT. Nano scale dispersion of CNT affected the properties of SBR. The results have been compared with the unfilled SBR films. Cure characteristics and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, modulus, abrasion resistance and hardness were measured for different composites. Morphological behaviour and structural characteristics of the composites were investigated by AFM, TEM, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. Microstructural development in presence of filler and interfacial interaction between modified CNT and polymer matrix led to enhanced properties. The pervaporation performances of membranes were analysed using a toluene/heptane mixture. Membranes displayed high selectivity towards heptane. The influence of feed composition on pervaporation was also analysed. The 5 phr CNT loaded membrane showed enhanced membrane permeance and selectivity value, an improvement of 18% over the neat polymer. A drop in selectivity and an increase in permeation rate were observed at higher CNT loadings. Keywords: Ionic liquid modified CNT, Microstructure, Interfacial interaction, Flux, Separation factor. 1. INTRODUCTION Polymer based nano composites serve as very promising, cost effective candidates for applications in wide range of fields which includes mechanical engineering, nano scale electronics, chemical sensing, tissue engineering, bio sensing and membrane fabrication [1, 2]. These materials consist of polymer matrix which contains various nano fillers such as clay, CNT, graphene, metal oxides etc [3, 4]. Among various nano fillers CNT has an excellent combination of mechanical, electrical and thermal properties which make CNT a potential candidate to replace the conventional nano fillers in the fabrication of multifunctional polymer nano composites [5, 6]. The major issues in the preparation of MWNT reinforced polymer nano composites are located in efficient dispersion of CNTs within the polymer matrix. CNTs have an inherent tendency to form agglomerates in the polymer matrix which diminishes the reinforcing effects [7]. So proper surface functionalization of CNT is inevitable for the preparation of multifunctional CNT based polymer composites. Non covalent functionalization of CNT using ionic liquid is a green and clean approach for the modification of CNT. Fukushima et al. succeeded to obtain a superior * Address correspondence to this author at the Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kottayam, Kerala, India; Tel: 09447870319; E-mail: soneygeo@gmail.com dispersion of CNTs in room temperature ionic liquid (IL) by mixing single walled carbon nano tubes (SWCNTs) with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIMBF 4 ) [8]. Ionic liquid modified CNT polymer composites with improved mechanical, thermal, electrical and oxidation resistance properties are prepared by various researchers [9-11]. Several studies have been reported on the effective pervaporation separation of various solvent mixtures by using CNT based composite membranes. Novel ploy(vinyl alcohol)/carbon nano tube hybrid membranes for pervaporation separation of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures was prepared by Peng et al. [12]. Choi et al. reported a facile method for the pervaporation of water ethanol mixtures by using mutiwalled carbon nano tube based poly (vinylalcohol) membranes [13]. The pervaporation dehydration of ethanol by hybrid membranes incorporating Fe 3 O 4 @MWCNT nano fillers was fabricated by Gao et al. [14] This study demonstrated that decorating hydrophilic inorganic nano particles onto CNTs was a suitable method to improve the dispersion of CNTs in polymer matrix as well as the separation performance of water-selective polymer–CNTs hybrid membranes. The styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) is one of the most widely used rubbers due to its inexpensive cost and good mechanical property. Gum vulcanization of SBR leading to lower mechanical properties due to the brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Cosmos Scholars Publishing House: Journals Management System