Electropolymerization of Molecular‐Sieving Polythiophene Membranes for H2 Separation. Issue 26 (22nd May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Mengxi; Jing, Xuechun; Zhao, Shuang; Shao, Pengpeng; Zhang, Yuanyuan; Yuan, Shuai; Li, Yanshuo; Gu, Cheng; Wang, Xiaoqi; Ye, Yanchun; Feng, Xiao; Wang, Bo
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 58:Issue 26(2019)
• Page Start: 8768
• Page End: 8772
• Publication Date: 2019-05-22
• Subjects: electrochemistry -- membranes -- molecular sieves -- polymers -- synthetic methods; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201904385
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

Abstract: Membrane technologies that do not rely on heat for industrial gas separation would lower global energy cost. While polymeric, inorganic, and mixed‐matrix separation membranes have been rapidly developed, the bottleneck is balancing the processability, selectivity, and permeability. Reported here is a softness adjustment of rigid networks (SARs) strategy to produce flexible, stand‐alone, and molecular‐sieving membranes by electropolymerization. Here, 14 membranes were rationally designed and synthesized and their gas separation ability and mechanical performance were studied. The separation performance of the membranes for H2 /CO2, H2 /N2, and H2 /CH4 can exceed the Robeson upper bound, among which, H2 /CO2 separation selectivity reaches 50 with 626 Barrer of H2 permeability. The long‐term and chemical stability tests demonstrate their potential for industrial applications. This simple, scalable, and cost‐effective strategy holds promise for the design other polymers for key energy‐intensive separations. Abstract : A soft touch : Softness adjustment of rigid networks is reported to produce flexible, stand‐alone, and molecular‐sieving membranes by electropolymerization. Outstanding H2 /CO2, H2 /N2, and H2 /CH4 separation performances have been achieved, ranking among the best of the state‐of‐the‐art pure organic polymeric membranes for H2 separation and purification.