A Novel Composite Material UiO-66@HNT/Pebax Mixed Matrix Membranes for Enhanced CO2/N2 Separation

Mixing a polymer matrix and nanofiller to prepare a mixed matrix membrane (MMM) is an effective method for enhancing gas separation performance. In this work, a unique UiO-66-decorated halloysite nanotubes composite material (UiO-66@HNT) was successfully synthesized via a solvothermal method and dispersed into the Pebax-1657 matrix to prepare MMMs for CO2/N2 separation. A remarkable characteristic of this MMM was that the HNT lumen provided the highway for CO2 diffusion due to the unique affinity of UiO-66 for CO2. Simultaneously, the close connection of the UiO-66 layer on the external surface of HNTs created relatively continuous pathways for gas permeation. A suite of microscopy, diffraction, and thermal techniques was used to characterize the morphology and structure of UiO-66@HNT and the membranes. As expected, the embedding UiO-66@HNT composite materials significantly improved the separation performances of the membranes. Impressively, the as-obtained membrane acquired a high CO2 permeability of 119.08 Barrer and CO2/N2 selectivity of 76.26. Additionally, the presence of UiO-66@HNT conferred good long-term stability and excellent interfacial compatibility on the MMMs. The results demonstrated that the composite filler with fast transport pathways designed in this study was an effective strategy to enhance gas separation performance of MMMs, verifying its application potential in the gas purification industry.