Blends based on ionic polysulfones with improved conformational and microstructural characteristics: Perspectives for biomedical applications

Ionic polysulfones have received widespread attention for their promising roles as ionic exchange membranes, antibacterial coatings, and dialysis membranes. Therefore, the blends of the quaternized polysulfone with a tunable content of polyvinyl alcohol were obtained to create new materials that can modulate the membrane properties. The rheological response of quaternized polysulfone/polyvinyl alcohol in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone blends to the structural peculiarity of polymers from the blend, composition of polymer mixtures, as well as the types of interactions was investigated. Rheological behavior of the complex system, described by the non-linear flow curve, indicates the plasticizer effect of polyvinyl alcohol to quaternized polysulfone solutions, in order to facilitate the subsequently preparation of the bioactive membranes. Additionally, the specific microarchitecture of the blends, determined using atomic force microscopy, represents an excellent porous membrane scaffold with expected future developments in the biomedical fields.