CO2-selective free-standing membrane by self-assembly of a UV-crosslinkable diblock copolymer

Baolong Xue; Xianwu Li; Longcheng Gao; Min Gao; Yao Wang; Lei Jiang

doi:10.1039/C2JM31037F

CO₂-selective free-standing membrane by self-assembly of a UV-crosslinkable diblock copolymer†

Baolong Xue,‡^a Xianwu Li,‡^a Longcheng Gao,*^a Min Gao,^a Yao Wang*^a and Lei Jiang^ab

* Corresponding authors

^a Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, P. R. China
E-mail: lcgao@buaa.edu.cn, yao@buaa.edu.cn.

^b Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P. R. China

Abstract

A polyethylene oxide-b-polystyrene (PEO-b-PS) block copolymer incorporating UV-crosslinkable coumarin groups in the PS block self-assembled into a cylindrical structure with PEO cylinders perpendicular to the film surface, which exhibited excellent CO₂ separation properties. The block copolymer was successfully synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The molecular characterization of the diblock copolymer was performed with ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The UV-crosslinking of the film was monitored by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The cylindrical phase structure was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Gas permeation properties of CO₂, N₂ and He were determined at different temperatures varying from 20 °C to 70 °C. Both the CO₂ permeation flux and total gas selectivity increased with increasing temperature. The maximum of CO₂ permeance at 70 °C was 20400 × 10⁻⁶ cm³ cm⁻² s⁻¹ cmHg⁻¹, and gas selectivity over He and N₂ was 20.1 and 27.7, respectively. It was concluded that the functional block units and self-assembled microphase structures synergetically played key roles in the high performance of the membrane.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JM31037F
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 19 Feb 2012
Accepted: 28 Mar 2012
First published: 29 Mar 2012

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J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 10918-10923

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CO₂-selective free-standing membrane by self-assembly of a UV-crosslinkable diblock copolymer

B. Xue, X. Li, L. Gao, M. Gao, Y. Wang and L. Jiang, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 10918 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM31037F

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