Design of poly(1-hexadecene-sulfone)/poly(1,4-phenylene sulfide) membrane containing nano-zeolite and carbon nanotube for gas separation

Abstract

Impregnating polymeric membranes with inorganic zeolite particles and organic carbon nanotube particles led to organic–inorganic nanocomposite membranes. In this work, nano-zeolite (NZ) and carbon nanotube (CNT) were used as nanofiller materials, while poly(1-hexadecene-sulfone)/poly(1,4-phenylene sulfide) (PHS/PS) blend was used as matrix material. PHS/PS/NZ membranes have shown fine dispersion, although layered-particulate morphology was seen in PHS/PS/NZ–CNT 10 membrane. Tensile strength of PHS/PS/NZ 1–10 was 53–58 MPa, while PHS/PS/NZ–CNT 1–10 showed higher values 67–78 MPa. Young’s Modulus of PHS/PS/NZ 1–10 was 122.2–137.7 MPa, while PHS/PS/NZ–CNT 1–10 showed higher values 143.4–166.5 MPa. Moreover, the nano-zeolite/carbon nanotube (NZ–CNT) filler was found more effective than nano-zeolite in enhancing CO2 permeability and permselectivity. The permeability PCO2 of PHS/PS/NZ and PHS/PS/NZ–CNT membranes increased with increasing filler concentration and reached 177.3 Barrer at 10 wt% filler content. The permselectivity αCO2/N2 for PHS/PS/NZ–CNT 10 membrane (36.1 Barrer) was also higher than PHS/PS/NZ 10 (32.9 Barrer).