Polymer ultrapermeability from the inefficient packing of 2D chains

Rose, Ian, Bezzu, C. Grazia, Carta, Mariolino ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0718-6971, Comesaña-Gándara, Bibiana, Lasseuguette, Elsa, Ferrari, M. Chiara, Bernardo, Paola, Clarizia, Gabriele, Fuoco, Alessio, Jansen, Johannes C., Hart, Kyle E., Liyana-Arachchi, Thilanga P., Colina, Coray M. and McKeown, Neil B. 2017. Polymer ultrapermeability from the inefficient packing of 2D chains. Nature Materials 16 (9) , pp. 932-937. 10.1038/nmat4939

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

The promise of ultrapermeable polymers, such as poly(trimethylsilylpropyne) (PTMSP), for reducing the size and increasing the efficiency of membranes for gas separations remains unfulfilled due to their poor selectivity. We report an ultrapermeable polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-TMN-Trip) that is substantially more selective than PTMSP. From molecular simulations and experimental measurement we find that the inefficient packing of the two-dimensional (2D) chains of PIM-TMN-Trip generates a high concentration of both small (<0.7 nm) and large (0.7–1.0 nm) micropores, the former enhancing selectivity and the latter permeability. Gas permeability data for PIM-TMN-Trip surpass the 2008 Robeson upper bounds for O2/N2, H2/N2, CO2/N2, H2/CH4 and CO2/CH4, with the potential for biogas purification and carbon capture demonstrated for relevant gas mixtures. Comparisons between PIM-TMN-Trip and structurally similar polymers with three-dimensional (3D) contorted chains confirm that its additional intrinsic microporosity is generated from the awkward packing of its 2D polymer chains in a 3D amorphous solid. This strategy of shape-directed packing of chains of microporous polymers may be applied to other rigid polymers for gas separations.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Chemistry
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:	1476-1122
Date of Acceptance:	9 June 2017
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2022 09:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/129257

Citation Data

Cited 197 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item