Q150t es carbon coater

Morphological features of all the EPSs were characterized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) (Field Emission SEM FEI Quanta 200, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hillsboro, OR, USA) at 15 KV. All the samples were coated with a 5-nm layer of carbon, using a QUORUM Q150T-ES Carbon Coater (Darmstadt, Germany). Morphological images were acquired from the scattered electron signal (SE signal) and the crystal characteristics were observed with the electron technique (BSE signal).

SEM (Tescan Vega 3 LMH SEM, Tescan Brno s.r.o, Brno, Czech Republic) was used to investigate the surface morphology due to the modification. For surface analyses, the membranes showing the filtration layer (surface) were carbon-coated using the Q150T ES carbon coater (Quorum Technologies, Lewes, UK) and subsequently analyzed. For cross-sectional analysis, the membranes were cut to 0.5 cm × 2.0 cm strips, and dipped in liquid nitrogen for about 3 min. These were subsequently broken apart to reveal the microporous structure. This was followed by carbon-coating before analysis.