Flexible Membranes of Fused Block Copolymer Vesicles for CO2 Separation

Abstract

In CO₂ separation and purification, the membrane separation technology has the most potential. Homogeneous membranes such as polyimide membranes have advantages of easy preparation and good mechanical properties but exhibit low CO₂ permeability. Heterogeneous membranes such as mixed matrix membranes show high CO₂ permeability and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity but have poor mechanical strength and complicated membrane production. Here, we prepare a novel separation membrane by fused chelate block copolymer vesicles in the presence of Co salt. This resultant membrane combines the advantages of homogeneous membranes with easy preparation and good mechanical property and heterogeneous membranes with high CO₂ permeability, which shows good prospects for industrial application. For example, the resultant membrane exhibits remarkable mechanical properties, such as an elongation at break of 210% and a tensile strength of 8 MPa, and exhibits a CO₂ permeability of 730.5 Barrer and a CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 13.5.