On VIPS Membrane Formation - A Monte Carlo Study

Membrane formation by immersion precipitation is simulated on a lattice model by Monte Carlo diffusion process in which particles move according to the change in local energy. And our approach obtained a description of the coagulation process to produce a finger-like morphology.

The simulation approach is further extended to simulate membrane formation by vapor induced phase separation (VIPS) method. Our approach allows to describe the membrane formation process and to study the effect of solvent volatility and miscibility of solvent and vapor. The simulation results show that membrane structure become denser with increase of solvent volatility, and dust-like morphology is obtained with higher miscibility between solvent and vapor.