Development of functional membranes that are capable of selectively recognizing and transporting ions have key importance for the recovery and separation of specific ions (e.g. K+, Li+, Na+) from multicomponent mixtures. In this thesis, new membrane materials based on crown ether-metal ion host–guest interactions are developed. Crown ethers are widely used as guest molecules for ions and are able to bind selectively specific cationic species. The main focus of this thesis is the direct incorporation of crown ether units into the polymer main chain, as repeating units, With the in-chain crown ether units, crown ether polymers show unique membrane functions, i.e. the selective binding of a specific ion to a high degree of specificity.
Sinem Tas will defend her thesis on March 11, 2016 at 16.45 h (University of Twente). An extensive summary of her work can be found in the next newsletter of our group. For more information about this work, please contact Prof. dr. Kitty Nijmeijer (d.c.nijmeijer@utwente.nl; phone: +31 53 489 4185)
