Preparation of strong acidic cational exchange fiber

The strong acidic ion exchange fibers with higher exchange capacities up to 3.2 mmol·g^-1 were prepared by the dehydration reaction of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber followed by sulfonation. The paper studied the effects of dehydrating catalyst, temperature, and atmosphere on dehydration reaction and the effects of mass loss, temperature and time of sulfonation on exchange capacities. The IR spectra shows that the dehydrated fiber exhibit the absorption peak of carbon double bond. There are absorption peaks of S = O and C = S in the IR spectra of the product. The spectrogram of electron diffraction indicate that the fiber can keep its crystalloid structure by drawing tension.