title: Hyper-Cross-Linked Additives that Impede Aging and Enhance Permeability in Thin Polyacetylene Films for Organic Solvent Nanofiltration.
abstract: Membrane materials with high permeability to solvents while rejecting dissolved contaminants are crucial to lowering the energy costs associated with liquid separations. However, the current lack of stable high-permeability materials require innovative engineering solutions to yield high-performance, thin membranes using stable polymers with low permeabilities. Poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne] (PTMSP) is one of the most permeable polymers but is extremely susceptible to physical aging. Despite recent developments in anti-aging polymer membranes, this research breakthrough has yet to be demonstrated on thin PTMSP films supported on porous polymer substrates, a crucial step toward commercializing anti-aging membranes for industrial applications. Here we report the development of scalable, thin film nanocomposite membranes supported on polymer substrates that are resistant to physical aging while having high permeabilities to alcohols. The selective layer is made up of PTMSP and nanoporous polymeric additives. The nanoporous additives provide additional passageways to solvents, enhancing the high permeability of the PTMSP materials further. Through intercalation of polyacetylene chains into the sub-nm pores of organic additives, physical aging in the consequent was significantly hindered in continuous long-term operation. Remarkably we also demonstrate that the additives enhance both membrane permeability and rejection of dissolved contaminants across the membranes, as ethanol permeability at 5.5 × 10-6L m m-2h-1bar-1with 93% Rose Bengal (1017.6 g mol-1) rejection, drastically outperforming commercial and state-of-the-art membranes. These membranes can replace energy-intensive separation processes such as distillation, lowering operation costs in well-established pharmaceutical production processes.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.|MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Converson and Storage, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Xi Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konstas
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.
authors.forename: Cara M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Doherty
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Australian Resources Research Centre, Kensington, Western Australia 6155, Australia.
authors.forename: Colin D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Mulet
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.
authors.forename: Zongli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.
authors.forename: Derrick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.|Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University , Clayton Victoria 3800, Australia.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Converson and Storage, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150001, China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4161-3861
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: CSIRO , Private Bag 10, Clayton South, Victoria 3169, Australia.|Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh EH9 3JL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Cher Hon
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1368-1506
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lau
keywords: hyper-cross-linked polymer (HCP); organic solvent nanofiltration; physical aging; porous aromatic frameworks (PAF-1); solvent treatment