Conjugated polymer films for gas separations

Journal Article · Fri Jun 07 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.252.5011.1412· OSTI ID:5955843

Anderson, M R; Mattes, B R; Reiss, H; Kaner, R B ^[1]

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1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles (United States)

Permeabilities for a series of gases through free-standing films of the conjugated polymer polyaniline are reported. A remarkable selectivity has been achieved for important gas pairs including hydrogen-nitrogen, oxygen-nitrogen, and carbon dioxide-methane. The selectivity values of 3,590 for H{sub 2}/N{sub 2}, 30 for O{sub 2}/N{sub 2}, and 336 for CO{sub 2}/CH{sub 4}surpass the highest previously reported values of 313, 16, and 60 for the nonconjugated polymers poly(trifluorochloroethylene), cellulose nitrate, and a fluorinated polyimide, respectively. The process for tailoring gas selectivity of a polyaniline membrane involves first enhancing the permeabilities of gases with small diameters (<3.5 angstroms (A)) by doping and undoping the polymer film with counterions of an appropriate size. High selectivities are then achieved by decreasing the permeabilities of larger gases (>3.5 A diameter) through controlled redoping of the polymer. The permanent morphological changes induced in this conjugated polymer system and others indicate the potential for development of universal membranes for gas separations.

• OSTI ID: 5955843
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 252:5011; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
03 NATURAL GAS
CARBON DIOXIDE
SEPARATION PROCESSES
HYDROGEN
METHANE
NATURAL GAS
PURIFICATION
NITROGEN
OXYGEN
ANILINE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FILMS
PERMEABILITY
POLYMERS
ALKANES
AMINES
AROMATICS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DATA
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
400105* - Separation Procedures
030300 - Natural Gas- Drilling
Production
&amp; Processing