Grafting thermally labile molecules on cross-linkable polyimide to design membrane materials for natural gas purification and CO2 capture

Youchang Xiao, Tai Shung Chung*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

131 Scopus citations

Abstract

A novel strategy to design molecularly the cavity size and free volume of flexible polyimide materials via thermal treatment of rigid and cross-linkable polyimides grafted with thermal liable side beta-cyclodextrin (CD) molecules is demonstrated in this study. The spaces occupied by the labile groups may become microvoids after low-temperature thermal degradation while the rigid polyimide backbone prevails. The thermal induced cross-linking reaction among polyimide chains may create ultra-fine micro-pores that integrally connect with microvoids. As a result, the thermally cured membranes fabricated from dense polyimide precursors show gas separation performance surpassing the trade-off lines, with tough and flexible mechanical properties. Thermal annealing at 425 °C produces polyimide membranes with the best CO2 permeability of 4016 Barrer with reasonable gas pair selectivity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)201-208
Number of pages8
JournalEnergy and Environmental Science
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2011
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering
  • Pollution

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