Unraveling the Morphology-Function Relationships of Polyamide Membranes Using Quantitative Electron Tomography.

摘要: An understanding of how complex nanoscale morphologies emerge from synthesis would offer powerful strategies to construct soft materials with designed structures and functions. However, these kinds of have proven difficult characterize, and therefore manipulate, because they are three-dimensional (3D), nanoscopic, often highly irregular. Here, we studied polyamide (PA) membranes used in wastewater reclamation as a prime example this challenge. Using electron tomography quantitative morphometry, reconstructed the morphology 3D crumples voids PA for first time. Various parameters governing film transport properties, such surface-to-volume ratio mass-per-area, were measured directly membrane structure. In addition, extracted information inaccessible by other means. For example, reconstruction shows that nanostructures formed layers 15–20 nm thick folding into which envelope up ...