Satellite TiO2 nanoparticles induced by silver ion in polymer electrolytes membrane for propylene/propane separation

Abstract

Silver polymer electrolyte membranes containing inorganic nanoparticles have showed excellent facilitated olefin transport properties. However, the application of facilitated transport membranes has been significantly hampered because of the poor stability of silver ions carrier. The structural changes of the facilitated transport membranes corresponding to the reduced separation performance with an extended time have rarely been studied. In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were introduced into poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/silver tetrafluoroborate polymer electrolyte membranes for propylene/propane separation. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the addition of TiO2 and silver salt reduced the crystallinity of PEO. The selectivity of propylene/propane of the polymer electrolyte membrane increased with increasing concentration of silver salt and TiO2 in the polymer matrix. However, the propylene/propane selectivity decreased from 19.04 to 5.40 as the silver carrier ions became deactivated over the course of 196 h experiment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated that the satellite TiO2 nanoparticles were formed around the silver salt after the composite membrane was placed in the air for 10 d. The findings in this work highlight the understanding of the carrier stability in polymer electrolyte membranes, and provide a potential opportunity to develop more stable polymer/carrier systems for the application of facilitated olefin transport membranes.