PERFLUORO POLYMER MEMBRANES

Membranes made with perfluorinated polymers are of particular interest due to the unique features demonstrated by these materials. Both highly hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes have been developed from appropriate perfluoropolymers, which were in turn obtained by copolymerization of TFE with special monomers available at the industrial scale. Highly hydrophobic membranes obtained from the glassy copolymers of TFE and 2,2,4 trifluoro-5 trifluoromethoxy-1,3 dioxole (Hyflo $n^{ }$ AD) show properties which make them particularly suited for use in the field of gas-liquid contactors and membrane distillation. Hydrophylic highly conductive proton exchange membranes obtained from the copolymer of TFE and a short-side-chain (SSC) perfluorosulfonylfluoridevinylether (Hyflo $n^{ }$ Ion) find interesting application in the field of fuel cells, especially in view of the current tendency to move to high temperature operation.n.