EFFECT OF TACTICITY AND MORPHOLOGY ON FORMATION OF PERSISTENT ELECTRICAL POLARIZATION IN POLAR POLYMER MEMBRANES

Persistent electrical polarization (heterocharged electret formation) has been studied as a function of stereotacticity, crystallinity, and molecular weight in membranes of PVA prepared via different synthetic routes. Membranes of PVA-sodium polystyrenesulfonate (PSSNa) and PVA-poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) copolymers and PVA-PVAc-PSSNa were also investigated. Increases in crystallinity tend to decrease persistent polarization. Within PVA-PSSNa membranes the presence of acetate groups reverses the behavior of PSSNa from an enhancer to an inhibitor of electret formation. The results all support a model in which hetero-charged electret formation involves an ion displacement in the direction of the applied field and and stabilization of this ion displacement by local hydrogen bonding.