Size- and charge-selective transport of aromatic compounds across polyelectrolyte multilayer membranes

The transport of various neutral and charged aromatic compounds across poly(diallyl dimethylammonium chloride)/poly(sodium styrenesulfonate) (PDADMA/PSS) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride)/poly(sodium styrenesulfonate) (PAH/PSS) multilayer membranes was investigated. The solutes were phenol (Ph), hydroquinone (1,4-BD), naphthalene (Np), pyrene (Py), triphenylene (Tp), alkali metal salts of benzene sulfonate (Bs), naphthalene 2-sulfonate (Ns), methyl orange (MO), and isomeric benzene disulfonates (1,2-, 1,3-BDS). For the neutral compounds, a size-selective transport was found, the transport being controlled by the pore size of the membrane and the size of the aromatic solute. The sieving effect from the membranes was so pronounced that mean pore sizes of 0.82 ± 0.09 and 0.67 ± 0.04 nm could be determined for PDADMA/PSS and PAH/PSS, respectively. Size exclusion leads to separation factors α(Ph/Py) ≈ 13 and α(Ph/Np) ≈ 28 using PDADMA/PSS and PAH/PSS membranes, respectively. For charged aromatic compounds, the transport is both size- and charge-selective. The charge-selectivity is based on Donnan rejection of permeating ions from the equally charged parts of the membrane, the rejection for dianions being much stronger than for monoanions comparable with the rejection of mono- and divalent inorganic ions. While size-based separation across PAH/PSS is only moderate (α(Bs/Ns) ≈ 4), the charge-based separation is high (α(Bs/1,3-BDS) ≈ 65).