Engineering interfacial interactions for hydrogen separation enhancement in Torlon®/mixed-linker ZIF-8 mixed matrix membranes

초록

Polymer membranes traditionally used for gas separation can be easily fabricated via a solution process; however, they have limitations in gas separation performance. Mixed matrix membrane (MMM) with dispersed high-performance filler within a polymer matrix achieves both excellent separation efficiency and productivity. In this study, we employed Torlon (R) (polyamide-imide), a chemically stable and commercially available polymer, as the matrix of the membranes. To enhance the separation performance through the fabrication of MMM, we utilized 2abIm-mixed-linker ZIF-8 (ML-ZIF-8) as the filler particles to improve the interfacial interaction with the Torlon (R) matrix. FT-IR and XPS analyses on the Torlon (R)/ML-ZIF-8 MMM confirmed the occurrence of interactions between the Torlon (R) and ML-ZIF-8. As a result, the analysis of both the DSC and stress-strain curves confirmed the effectiveness of incorporating ML-ZIF-8 into the Torlon (R) for improving the stability of the polymer-filler interface. This enhancement resulted in an approximately 2.7 times higher H-2 permeability for the Torlon (R)/ML-ZIF-8 MMM compared to the pure Torlon (R) membrane. Furthermore, the selectivity of H-2/N-2 and H-2/CH4 separation increased by around 11 times and 9.6 times, respectively, leading to a significant overall improvement in separation performance.

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