Fabrication and Characterization of Novel Metal Organic Framework Stabilized Immiscible Polymer Blend Membranes for Gas Separation

Fabrication and characterization of novel metal organic framework stabilized immiscible polymer blend membranes for gas separation

Nimanka Panapitiya, Kenneth J. Balkus Jr., Inga H. Musselman, John P. Ferraris*

 

Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, Tx 75080, USA

 

Polymer blends offer a great potential to combine the high gas permeability of one polymer with the high gas selectivity of another but often comprise incompatible materials leading to uncontrollable phase separation.  Immiscible polymer blends have been compatibilized with nanoparticles to obtain advanced materials for various applications, especially those needing a high surface area, but not have been extensively explored for the fabrication of gas separation membranes. We report a new class of mixed matrix membranes for gas separations in which two immiscible polymers with micro-scale domains are compatibilized with metal organic frameworks (MOFs). An advantage of this approach is the simultaneous contribution of MOFs both as a polymer compatibilizer as well as a molecular sieve for improved gas separation.  The fabrication, characterization and permeability data of the polymer blend MMMs is presented.