Modified Graphene Oxide-Incorporated Thin-Film Composite Hollow Fiber Membranes through Interface Polymerization on Hydrophilic Substrate for CO2 Separation

Ook Choi,Yeonho Kim,Insu Jeong,Tae-Hyun Kim,Iqubal Hossain,Chul-Ho Park

doi:10.3390/membranes11090650

Abstract

Thin-film composite mixed matrix membranes (CMMMs) were fabricated using interfacial polymerization to achieve high permeance and selectivity for CO2 separation. This study revealed the role of substrate properties on performance, which are not typically considered important. In order to enhance the affinity between the substrate and the coating solution during interfacial polymerization and increase the selectivity of CO2, a mixture of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dopamine (DOPA) was subjected to a spinning process. Then, the surface of the substrate was subjected to interfacial polymerization using polyethyleneimine (PEI), trimesoyl chloride (TMC), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The effect of adding SDS as a surfactant on the structure and gas permeation properties of the fabricated membranes was examined. Thin-film composite hollow fiber membranes containing modified graphene oxide (mGO) were fabricated, and their characteristics were analyzed. The membranes exhibited very promising separation performance, with CO2 permeance of 73 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of 60. From the design of a membrane substrate for separating CO2, the CMMMs hollow fiber membrane was optimized using the active layer and mGO nanoparticles through interfacial polymerization.

Highlights

Carbon dioxide (CO2) separation or capture is highly desired in order to contribute to solving, or at least reduce, the worldwide threat of global warming brought about by the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) [1,2]
These results indicate that the graphene oxide (GO) has been successfully modified in our experiments
Thin-film composite hollow fiber membranes combined with hydrophilic hollow fiber support and modified graphene oxide (mGO) nanoparticles were fabricated and analyzed

Summary

Introduction

Carbon dioxide (CO2) separation or capture is highly desired in order to contribute to solving, or at least reduce, the worldwide threat of global warming brought about by the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) [1,2]. Hybrid membranes (e.g., mixed-matrix membranes MMMs or composite mixed-matrix membrane CMMMs) have been recognized as a state-of-the-art way to combine the advantages of a polymer (mechanical flexibility, facile processing, low cost, and easy to scale up) with inorganic fillers (excellent thermo-mechanical stability, high free volume, and selectivity) or incorporating reactivity-selective CO2-carrier into the polymer matrices to facilitate the transport of CO2 [15,20,21,22] Most of these developed materials have usually been reported as selfstanding thick films, typically in the order of 40–100 microns [15]. After the post-treatment process, the membrane was dried at room temperature

Preparation of Thin-Film Composite Membranes with Modified Graphene Oxides

Characterization of mGO and Thin-Film Composite Hollow Fiber Membranes

Results and Discussion

Conclusions