Building CO<sub>2</sub> Transport Channels in Mixed Matrix Membranes Using SiO<sub>2</sub> Nanosheets
Jinpeng Hou, Libin Hu, Feng Ren, Yongli Zhao, Weiliang Tian, Yun Qin
Abstract
With the use of the polyether–polyamide block copolymer (Pebax) as a polymer membrane matrix, two-dimensional silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) nanosheets were obtained through the acid treatment of vermiculite and applied as fillers to prepare mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) with different filler amounts. Building transport channels for CO 2 transfer in the membranes and enhancing the separation performance of CO 2 /CH 4 are feasible owing to the structure of the SiO 2 nanosheets and their propensity for horizontal alignment in the MMMs. The investigation of the characteristics and gas separation capabilities of Pebax–SiO 2 MMMs revealed that the combination of SiO 2 nanosheets considerably improved the separation effect of the MMM S in the CO 2 /CH 4 system. The Pebax–SiO 2 MMMs demonstrated an excellent CO 2 separation efficiency with a CO 2 permeation coefficient of 313.24 barrer and a CO 2 /CH 4 selectivity of 31.26 at the filling quantity of 1.0 wt %.