Abstract
Alcohol-soluble comb copolymers were synthesized from rubbery poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (POEM) and glassy polyacrylamide (PAcAm) via economical and facile free-radical polymerization. The synthesis of comb copolymers was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies. The bicontinuous microphase-separated morphology and amorphous structure of comb copolymers were confirmed by wide-angle X-ray scattering, differential scanning calorimetry, and transmission electron microscopy. With increasing POEM content in the comb copolymer, both CO2 permeability and CO2/N2 selectivity gradually increased. A mechanically strong free-standing membrane was obtained at a POEM:PAcAm ratio of 70:30 wt%, in which the CO2 permeability and CO2/N2 selectivity reached 261.7 Barrer (1 Barrer = 10−10 cm3 (STP) cm cm−2 s−1 cmHg−1) and 44, respectively. These values are greater than those of commercially available Pebax and among the highest separation performances reported previously for alcohol-soluble, all-polymeric membranes without porous additives. The high performances were attributed to an effective CO2-philic pathway for the ethylene oxide group in the rubbery POEM segments and prevention of the N2 permeability by glassy PAcAm chains.
Highlights
Growing concerns about global warming resulting from accelerated industrialization has led to the increasing demand for advanced gas purification and CO2 separation technologies [1]
We report the synthesis of poly(oxyethylene methacrylate)-g-poly(acrylamide) (POEM-g-PAcAm) comb copolymer via facile free-radical polymerization for application as a CO2 separation membrane
The POEM-g-PAcAm comb copolymers have an amorphous structure as investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis
Summary
Growing concerns about global warming resulting from accelerated industrialization has led to the increasing demand for advanced gas purification and CO2 separation technologies [1]. Compared to other gas separation technologies, such as adsorption, absorption, and cryogenics, membrane technology has many advantages, including high energy efficiency, low operating costs, small footprint, and easy scale-up [2,3,4,5,6,7]. Polymers are attractive materials for preparing membranes because of their diversity, simple manufacturing methods, good processability, and high separation performance [8]. It is possible to fabricate various membranes for different applications owing to the diverse monomers available and the polymers that are synthesized from them with different structural properties. Membrane technology for CO2 separation has attracted significant research interest [9,10,11,12]. It is important to develop innovative membranes that show high permeability and high selectivity simultaneously
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