Hybrid polycaprolactone/silica porous membranes produced by sol-gel

Abstract

Hybrid porous membranes of polycaprolactone (PCL) and silica were obtained by a two stage procedure. First a porous PCL membrane was produced by freeze extraction technique and then a sol-gel reaction was used to form a uniform silica coating on the pore walls. Sol-gel reaction was performed at low pH with tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the precursor of silica. In this work we analyze the influence of several clue parameters on the silica film formation and in turn on the properties of the hybrid material. Water: TEOS molar ratio and drying protocol were considered in this study.