Formation of AgCl nanoparticle in reverse microemulsion using polymerizable surfactant and the resulting copolymer hybrid membranes

AgCl nanoparticles were synthesized in water—in—oil microemulsions using polymerizable 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) as the surfactant and a glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)/methyl methacrylate (MMA) mixture as the oil phase. AgCl/poly(GMA-co-MMA-co-AMPS) copolymer hybrid membranes were prepared by in situ microemulsion polymerization. The morphology of the AgCl particles and hybrid membranes was characterized by UV-visible spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. A size decrease was observed in the AgCl nanoparticles with increased surfactant and salt concentrations. The AgCl nanoparticles maintained an even dispersion in the hybrid membranes. The separation performance of the hybrid membranes was evaluated by pervaporation experiments of benzene/cyclohexane mixtures. The high solubility of the polymerizable surfactant in the MMA-GMA mixture led to better hybrid membrane performance compared with the hybrid membranes prepared by macromolecular surfactant. The swelling–sorption behavior of benzene and cyclohexane indicated that the equilibrium swelling–sorption amounts in all hybrid membranes were larger than in membranes without the nanoparticles. When the surfactant and salt concentrations were both 0.3 mol L−1, the equilibrium swelling–sorption amounts in the hybrid membranes reached a maximum.

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► Small AgCl nanoparticles generated in microemulsion using polymerizable surfactant
► AgCl nanoparticles distributed well in hybrid membrane after polymerization
► Good solubility of AMPS in GMA/MMA mixture led to higher performance of hybrid membranes
► Hybrid membrane including small AgCl particles have high solubility of benzene