Cary 630

Membrane hydrophobicity was evaluated via water contact angle measurements with a calibrated tensiometer (Biolin Scientific, AZ, USA) using the sessile drop method with one water droplet of 20 μl. The top surface and cross section of the membranes were imaged by field-emission SEM (FESEM) using secondary and backscattered electron detectors (JEOL, Tokyo, Japan). Membrane samples were coated with 5 nm of carbon thread before taking images. The average pore size, porosity, and thickness of the membranes were extracted from FESEM images at various locations using ImageJ software (National Institute of Health, MD, USA). Five SEM images from similarly fabricated alumina membranes were used for ImageJ analysis and the surface pore size was considered to be the longest distance between two points on the pore boundaries (or the Feret’s diameter). Elemental compositions of the membranes were quantified using an energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy detector (Oxford Instruments, Oxfordshire, UK) coupled with the FESEM system operating at an accelerating voltage of 15 kV. FTIR was conducted using a spectrometer with a diamond attenuated total reflection module (Cary 630, CO, USA).

FT-IR analyses were performed on Cary 630 FT-IR with ATR. NMR analyses were recorded on a Bruker Fourier 300. ¹H NMR spectra of samples were recorded in CDCl₃ at 300 MHz, chemicals shifts were reported in parts per million (CDCl₃ residual signal at δ = 7.26 ppm). ¹³C NMR spectra of samples were recorded at 75 MHz (CDCl₃ signal at δ = 77.16 ppm). HRMS were recorded by the PLANET platform at URCA on a Micromass GC-TOF.