ie500126x_si_001.pdf (109.94 kB)
Thin Ionic Liquid Membranes Based on Inorganic Supports with Different Pore Sizes
journal contribution
posted on 2014-05-14, 00:00 authored by Jonathan Albo, Toshinori TsuruNanoporous TiO2 and SiO2–ZrO2 membranes with controlled pore sizes
were prepared by sol–gel
processing and combined with a high CO2 solubility ionic
liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([emim][Ac]), by hand-coating
the ionic liquid onto the membrane surface, and then by a spray-coating
procedure. The CO2 permeation through SILMs based on a
support with 20 nm pores (SILM-20), PCO2 = 2.28 ± 0.16 × 10–8 mol/(m2·s·Pa), was 62% higher than that permeance obtained
for SILMs with 1 nm pore sizes (SILM-1). Besides, the activation energy
for permeation increased for membranes with smaller pore sizes, which
suggested that the properties of the ionic liquid were influenced
by the interaction with the membrane pore surface. The membranes prepared
by spray coating revealed a CO2 permeance as high as PCO2 = 4.31 ± 0.13 × 10–8 mol/(m2·s·Pa), with an ideal
CO2/N2 selectivity of α(CO2/N2) = 31.18 ± 1.34, which outperformed
the current state-of-the-art materials for CO2/N2 separation.