Azide-based Cross-Linking of Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) for Condensable Gas Separation

Cross-linked polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM)s for gas separation membranes, were prepared by a nitrene reaction from a representative PIM in the presence of two different diazide cross-linkers. The reaction temperature was optimized using TGA. The homogenous membranes were cast from THF solutions of different ratios of PIM to azides. The resulting cross-linked structures of the PIMs membranes were formed at 175 degrees C after 7.5 h and confirmed by TGA, XPS, FT-IR spectroscopy and gel content analysis. These resulting cross-linked polymeric membranes showed excellent gas separation performance and can be used for O-2/N-2 and CO2/N-2 gas pairs, as well as for condensable gases, such as CO2/CH4, propylene/propane separation. Most importantly, and differently from typical gas separation membranes derived from glassy polymers, the crosslinked PIMs showed no obvious CO2 plasticization up to 20 atm pressure of pure CO2 and CO2/CH4 mixtures.The authors are grateful to David Kingston of the National Research Council for the XPS measurements. MDG acknowledges partial support from the WCU (World Class university) program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (No. R31-2008-000-10092-0)