Abstract
Diffusion in a boundary between a polymer+solvent solution and non-solvent was treated by accounting for the presence of the four diffusion coefficients that describe the isothermal transport process in a three component system. Diffusion equations were integrated assuming a concentration dependence of diffusion coefficients that account for the thermodynamic conditions on the cross diffusion terms of Eq. (1). The presence of non-zero cross terms promotes an incongruent diffusion of polymer whose concentration increases at the boundary between the polymer+solvent solution and the non-solvent. Although our model describes diffusion in the range of homogeneous solution, this incongruent polymer diffusion is a process similar to that promoted by the solvent evaporation from the polymer+solvent film that some authors suggested as an intermediate step before the film immersion into the coagulation bath to obtain good asymmetric membranes.
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Ambrosone, L., Paduano, L., Sartorio, R. et al. Diffusion phenomena in ternary systems polymer-nonsolvent-solvent. J Solution Chem 22, 1119–1134 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00651694
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00651694