Membrane-Based Gas Separation Accelerated by Hollow Nanosphere Architectures

Jinshui Zhang; Jennifer Ann Schott; Yunchao Li; Wangcheng Zhan; Shannon M Mahurin; Kimberly Nelson; Xiao-Guang Sun; Mariappan Parans Paranthaman; Sheng Dai

doi:10.1002/adma.201603797

Membrane-Based Gas Separation Accelerated by Hollow Nanosphere Architectures

Adv Mater. 2017 Jan;29(4). doi: 10.1002/adma.201603797. Epub 2016 Nov 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
³ Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China.

PMID: 27859765
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201603797

Abstract

The coupling of hollow carbon nanospheres with triblock copolymers is a promising strategy to fabricate mixed-matrix membranes. This is because the symmetric microporous shells combine with the hollow space to promote gas transport, and the unique soft-rigid molecular structure of triblock copolymers can accommodate a high loading of fillers without a significant loss of mechanical strength.

Keywords: gas separation; hollow nanosphere architectures; mixed-matrix membranes; triblock copolymers.