Charge mosaic membranes prepared from laminated structures of PVA-based charged layers: 1. Preparation and transport properties of charged mosaic membranes

A charge mosaic (CM) membrane has high permselectivity for electrolytes. While there are many reports of attempts to prepare such membranes, it is difficult to make CM membranes for practical applications. We report the preparation of CM membranes from laminated structures of charged-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes. The membranes were prepared by alternately stacking negatively charged base membranes and positively charged base membranes and by cutting the stack of charged layers. Permeation experiments were performed in a dialysis system consisting of the membrane and mixed solutions of KCl and sucrose. Although the salt flux through the membrane was about 30 times less than that through the charge mosaic membrane Desalton® (Tosoh Co. Ltd.), which was prepared using microphase separation, the permselectivity for salt of our membrane is more than 30 times higher than that of Desalton®.