Polysulfone-POSS membrane impregnated with ionic liquid for CO2 gas separation

摘要

The incorporation of inorganic nanomaterials into polymer matrix can result a wide range of property enhancement. Hence, mixed matrix membranes composed of polymeric thin film and well-dispersed nanoparticles have been extensively studied in CO2 separation. In this work, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) with amino functionality was incorporated into polysulfone (PSf) membrane. After phase inversion, PSf/POSS membrane was impregnated with the gas selective ionic liquid (IL), [emim][TF2N] to enhance CO2 separation. was further used to modify the membrane after the phase inversion process. The membranes were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The SEM images showed that the POSS particles were well distributed on the membrane surface without interfacial defects due to their compatibility with the polymer. However, the large nanocage structure of POSS allow gas permeation without much selectivity. After incorporating IL as proven in EDX results, PSf/POSS-IL exhibited an increment about 454% and 430% in CO_2 permeance and CO_2/N_2 selectivity, respectively.