Synthesis and characterization of polymer film obtained by grafting of acrylic monomer onto radioperoxided poly(ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene) copolymer in the presence of polyfunctional monomers. Stability in basic solutions

Abstract Acrylic acid (AA), methacrylic acid (MA), diethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (DEGDM) or N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (NBA) are grafted onto 100 μm radioperoxided poly(ethylene-te-trafluoroethylene) copolymer (ETFE). The stability of the so-obtained cation-exchange membranes immersed in NaOH solutions is studied by following the mass leakage, the exchange capacity, the swelling ratio, the electrical resistance and the permselectivity towards sodium ions. Among these membranes, only those grafted with AA and crosslinked with NBA exhibit a decrease of selectivity lower than 10%, regardless of the number of treatments in basic solution at 70 °C. The important loss of selectivity of the other membranes is attributed to homopolymer elimination and hydrolysis of ester functions in the case of ETFE films grafted with AA and crosslinked with DEGDM.