Synthesis of modified polymer inclusion membranes for photo-electrodeposition of cadmium using polarized electrodes

In this work, we have developed a novel class of polymeric inclusion membranes (PIMs) for the cations separation. The membrane is made up of cellulose triacetate modified by poly-electrolytes (poly-phosphoric acid, polyvinyl pyrolidone, polyacrylic acid, polyvinyl alcohol and poly-anetholsulfonic acid) using 2-hydroxy-5-dodecylbenzaldehyde incorporated into the polymer as carrier and tris ethyl hexyl phosphate or glycerine as plasticizers. Different PIMs are synthesized and characterized by the Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The influence of the membrane nature is studied using supports with different physical characteristics (porosity, thickness, hydrophobia). As application, the transport of Cd(2+) using PIMs coupled with photo-electrodes is investigated. The photo-catalytic results indicate that the combined system p-CuFeO(2)/membrane/n-WO(3) enhances considerably the electrons transfer toward the delafossite CuFeO(2). The position of the conduction band of CuFeO(2) is looked to be the key issue for the photo electrochemical Cd(2+) reduction.