Hyperaging-induced H2-selective thin-film composite membranes with enhanced submicroporosity toward green hydrogen supply
Journal of Membrane Science(2023)
Abstract
Repurposing the existing natural gas infrastructure by blending hydrogen with methane (i.e., Hythane) is one feasible option to develop a low-carbon hydrogen supply chain, although this process requires extraction of the hydrogen from Hythane after distribution. Membrane technology is a potential solution to tackle this application given its many advantages over other separation methods. However, industrial use of developed membrane materials has been challenging due to several practical concerns; for example, insufficient separation abilities and accelerated physical aging of thin membranes in high-free-volume glassy polymers. Herein, we propose an integrated strategy to develop highly H2-selective thin-film composite (TFC) membranes by tuning the aging behavior of polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM) thin films. Detailed gas permeation and two-dimensional (2D) grazing incidence wide-angle x-ray scattering (GIWAXS) studies reveal that triptycene-based PIM TFC membranes can exploit beneficial aging effects resulting from aging-induced enhancement in submicroporosity. To directly deploy TFC membranes, a simple post-treatment step was introduced to increase the aging rate, termed “hyperaging.” The hyperaged TFC membranes exhibited high H2/CH4 mixed-gas selectivity (>100), moderate H2 permeance (∼100 GPU), and good long-term stability when tested using a binary mixture with dilute H2 concentration (20 mol%), demonstrating promise for downstream hydrogen extraction toward green hydrogen supply.
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Key words
Hydrogen supply,Microporous polymers,Physical aging,Membranes,Thin-film composite
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