Towards high water permeability in triazine-framework-based microporous membranes for dehydration of ethanol

Yu Pan Tang, Huan Wang, Tai Shung Chung*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    39 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The microstructural evolution of a series of triazine framework-based microporous (TFM) membranes under different conditions has been explored in this work. The pristine TFM membrane is in situ fabricated in the course of polymer synthesis via a facile Brønsted-acid-catalyzed cyclotrimerizaiton reaction. The as-synthesized polymer exhibits a microporous network with high thermal stability. The free volume size of the TFM membranes gradually evolved from a unimodal distribution to a bimodal distribution under annealing, as analyzed by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). The emergence of the bimodal distribution is probably ascribed to the synergetic effect of quenching and thermal cyclization reaction. In addition, the fractional free volume (FFV) of the membranes presents a concave trend with increasing annealing temperature. Vapor sorption tests reveal that the mass transport properties are closely associated with the free volume evolution, which provides an optimal condition for dehydration of biofuels. A promising separation performance with extremely high water permeability has been attained for dehydration of an 85 wt% ethanol aqueous solution at 45°C. The study on the free volume evolution of the TFM membranes may provide useful insights about the microstructure and mass transport behavior of the microporous polymeric materials.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)138-147
    Number of pages10
    JournalCHEMSUSCHEM
    Volume8
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Jan 2015

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

    Keywords

    • Covalent triazine framework
    • Dehydration
    • Mass transport
    • Microstructure
    • Pervaporation

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Environmental Chemistry
    • General Chemical Engineering
    • General Materials Science
    • General Energy

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Towards high water permeability in triazine-framework-based microporous membranes for dehydration of ethanol'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this