Norbornene-Based Membranes for Carbon Dioxide and Light Hydrocarbon Separations

Gas separation membranes have been targeted for a variety of applications including the separation of light-hydrocarbons, natural gas purification, and even the separation of harmful greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂). Our research aims to design and evaluate polymeric gas separation membranes possessing precisely defined structure at each of the monomeric, polymeric, and microphase separated levels. In this presentation, we will describe a series of siloxane-substituted polynorbornenes that were synthesized via vinyl-addition polymerization methodologies. We will demonstrate that these polymers can produce large area, defect-free films that have shown tremendous promise for the separation of CO₂ from N₂, as well as heavier hydrocarbons from lighter hydrocarbons such as butane from methane. Certain copolymers have even shown performance near Robeson’s upper bound, which signifies these materials are some of the highest performing membranes for these applications.