TY - JOUR
T1 - CO2-philic thin film composite membranes
T2 - Synthesis and characterization of PAN-r-PEGMA copolymer
AU - Karunakaran, Madhavan
AU - Kumar, Mahendra
AU - Shevate, Rahul
AU - Akhtar, Faheem Hassan
AU - Peinemann, Klaus Viktor
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors.
PY - 2017/7/6
Y1 - 2017/7/6
N2 - In this work, we report the successful fabrication of CO2-philic polymer composite membranes using a polyacrylonitrile-r-poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PAN-r-PEGMA) copolymer. The series of PAN-r-PEGMA copolymers with various amounts of PEG content was synthesized by free radical polymerization in presence of AIBN initiator and the obtained copolymers were used for the fabrication of composite membranes. The synthesized copolymers show high molecular weights in the range of 44-56 kDa. We were able to fabricate thin film composite (TFC) membranes by dip coating procedure using PAN-r-PEGMA copolymers and the porous PAN support membrane. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were applied to analyze the surface morphology of the composite membranes. The microscopy analysis reveals the formation of the defect free skin selective layer of PAN-r-PEGMA copolymer over the porous PAN support membrane. Selective layer thickness of the composite membranes was in the range of 1.32-1.42 μm. The resulting composite membrane has CO2 a permeance of 1.37 × 10-1 m3/m2 · h · bar and an ideal CO2/N2, selectivity of 65. The TFC membranes showed increasing ideal gas pair selectivities in the order CO2/N2 > CO2/CH4 > CO2/H2. In addition, the fabricated composite membranes were tested for long-term single gas permeation measurement and these membranes have remarkable stability, proving that they are good candidates for CO2 separation.
AB - In this work, we report the successful fabrication of CO2-philic polymer composite membranes using a polyacrylonitrile-r-poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PAN-r-PEGMA) copolymer. The series of PAN-r-PEGMA copolymers with various amounts of PEG content was synthesized by free radical polymerization in presence of AIBN initiator and the obtained copolymers were used for the fabrication of composite membranes. The synthesized copolymers show high molecular weights in the range of 44-56 kDa. We were able to fabricate thin film composite (TFC) membranes by dip coating procedure using PAN-r-PEGMA copolymers and the porous PAN support membrane. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were applied to analyze the surface morphology of the composite membranes. The microscopy analysis reveals the formation of the defect free skin selective layer of PAN-r-PEGMA copolymer over the porous PAN support membrane. Selective layer thickness of the composite membranes was in the range of 1.32-1.42 μm. The resulting composite membrane has CO2 a permeance of 1.37 × 10-1 m3/m2 · h · bar and an ideal CO2/N2, selectivity of 65. The TFC membranes showed increasing ideal gas pair selectivities in the order CO2/N2 > CO2/CH4 > CO2/H2. In addition, the fabricated composite membranes were tested for long-term single gas permeation measurement and these membranes have remarkable stability, proving that they are good candidates for CO2 separation.
KW - Composite membranes
KW - Copolymer
KW - Gas separation
KW - Polyacrylonitrile
KW - Polyethylene glycol
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85021938198&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/polym9070219
DO - 10.3390/polym9070219
M3 - Article
C2 - 30970944
AN - SCOPUS:85021938198
SN - 2073-4360
VL - 9
JO - Polymers
JF - Polymers
IS - 7
M1 - 219
ER -