Effect of substituted groups on characterization and water vapor sorption property of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-containing methacryl polymer membranes

Abstract

The effects of substituted groups on the characteristics and water vapor sorption property of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-containing methacryl polymers were investigated. A broad halo was observed in the X-ray diffraction profile, which suggests that all membranes were amorphous structure. Interestingly, the smaller volume of substituted groups tended to induce the larger deformation of POSS structure resulting from the packing of polymer segments. The introduction of ring-substituted POSS unit improved their thermal stability due to the increase in the rigidity. The sorption behavior for all POSS-containing polymer membranes obeyed the dual-mode model at lower relative press..