Scalable fabrication of carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposite membranes for high flux gas transport.
We present a simple, fast, and practical route to vertically align carbon nanotubes on a porous support using a combination of self-assembly and filtration methods. The advantage of this approach is that it can be easily scaled up to large surface areas, allowing the fabrication of membranes for practical gas separation applications. The gas transport properties of thus constructed nanotube/polymer nanocomposite membranes are analogous to those of carbon nanotube membranes grown by chemical vapor deposition. This paper shows the first data for transport of gas mixtures through carbon nanotube membranes. The permeation of gas mixtures through the membranes exhibits different properties than those observed using single-gas experiments, confirming that non-Knudsen transport occurs.
Chemical Engineering Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0211, USA.
Sangil
S
Kim
Joerg R
JR
Jinschek
Haibin
H
Chen
David S
DS
Sholl
Eva
E
Marand
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D004058:Diffusion; D017022:Flow Injection Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000379:methods; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D013499:Surface Properties
D005740:Gases; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene