A smart thermo- and pH-responsive microfiltration membrane based on three-dimensional inverse colloidal crystals
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 22, 2026
Three-Dimensionally Printed Microfluidic Cross-flow System for Ultrafiltration/Nanofiltration Membrane Performance Testing
Published on: February 13, 2016
Bing Yu1,2, Qianqian Song1, Hailin Cong3,4
1Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, China.
Abstract:
In this paper, a thermo- and pH-responsive microfiltration membrane was prepared based on three-dimensional (3D) inverse colloidal crystals (ICC). To manufacture the smart ICC membrane, the typical thermo-responsive N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and pH-responsive methacrylic acid (MAA) were polymerized inside silica colloidal crystals. The smart ICC membranes were characterized by SEM, IR and contact angle measurements. Moreover, the permeability of smart microfiltration membrane was carried out by the KCl diffusion tests. The result showed that effective diameter of the polymer ICC membrane can be reversible tuned by temperature and pH. Besides, the functional ICC membrane showed outstanding temperature- and pH-responsive gating property, which was applied to separate particles of different sizes. The savvy environment-responsive gating membranes have potential uses in filtration, separation, purification, sensor and other applications.
