Ultra-permeable intercalated metal-induced microporous polymer nano-dots rooted smart membrane for environmental remediation

Energy efficient CO2 separation using ultrathin smart membranes must possess efficient permeation performance, higher surface area and hydrostatic stability at industrially relevant high pressures. However, ultrathin membranes are susceptible to lower surface area, plasticization and swelling which reduces the performance at higher pressure under humidified conditions. This paper evaluates the routes for the potential intercalated effect of metal-induced microporous polymers (MMPs) dots into a cellulose-based polymer matrix to enhance promising properties, including the surface area, CO2 permeation performance, plasticization resistance and hydrostatic stability of ultrathin smart membranes at high pressure. The MMP dots-rooted smart membrane demonstrated 55 nm thickness of ultrathin selective layer with a higher surface of 220 cm2. The enhancement of CO2 permeability from 14.1 to 108.9 Barrer and CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity from 11.8 to 31.1 was observed due to the integration of MMP dots into the cellulose polymer. This result could be due to enhancement of nitrogen lone pair electron interactions with CO2 followed by amines group which improved the CO2 adsorption on the membrane surface. The MMP dots-rooted membrane demonstrated plasticization resistance up to 26 bar pressure, as compared to a pristine polymer membrane which is a percentage increase of 160% under humidified conditions. The resulting ultrathin smart membrane exhibited stable performance for a duration of 200 h under humidified conditions which confirmed the higher hydrostatic stability of the membrane. These findings confirmed the potential of MMP dots materials for the development of an industrial scale CO2 separation process using intercalated membranes.