2025/07/27 by R. Kōnane Bay · 1 voice
Engineering · Environmental Science · #Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials #Membrane Separation Technologies #Membrane Separation and Gas Transport
paper · doi:10.1002/pol.20250562
openalex publication_date 2025/07/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
ABSTRACT Polymer thin films are critical for many applications, including water filtration and gas separation membranes. In these applications, polymer films can experience elevated temperatures, elevated pressures/pressure gradients, and varying liquid/gas environments. However, the majority of work on the mechanical properties of ultrathin polymer films has focused on the impact of thickness at ambient conditions. In contrast, less work has focused on the effect of non‐ambient environmental conditions. This perspective reviews the bulk and thin film literature on how environmental conditions can influence the solid mechanics of glassy polymers, highlighting the unresolved questions that remain. We focus on two dense polymer thin film membrane applications: water desalination and CO 2 capture. These applications will benefit from investigating the influence of environmental operating conditions on their mechanical properties. To accomplish these studies, tensile testers for ultrathin films will need to be modified to measure the impact of temperature (heating stage), liquid interactions (liquid support layer), and gas interactions (instrument enclosure). Measuring the influence of hydraulic pressure on the thin film mechanical properties will require a creative approach in the future. Modifying these instruments will yield future studies on the impact of the surrounding environment on the solid mechanics of ultrathin polymer films.