Tunable Composite Membranes

Ideal membranes for barrier applications combine low permeability and optimized mechanical properties; ideal gas separation membranes combine high selectivity, high permeability, and optimized mechanical properties. Unfortunately, such combinations are rarely achieved with pure polymeric or inorganic membranes. This talk will focus on tuning the permeability and mechanical properties of polymeric membranes using impermeable inorganic inclusions in "flake" or platelet and spherical geometries, and the myriad of ways a transition from nanoscale to microscale inclusions can drastically alter the performance of these composite membranes.