Improvement in polyetherimide gas separation membranes through the incorporation of nanostructured metal complexes

Polyetherimide (PEI) gas separation membranes were tailored, at the molecular scale, by the incorporation of nanostructured metallic complexes into the PEI network. The influence of these additives on the micropore size distributions of the membranes produced and on their performance for oxygen/nitrogen separation was investigated. Changing the metal within the same ligand had a significant influence on the microporosity and gas separation performance of these membranes. Magnesium (II) phathalocyanine (MgPc) in PEI membranes was found to be an excellent additive to increase membrane performance for air separation. The performance of these membranes increases with increasing additive concentrations. Membranes with this additive also exhibit an improved stability as determined through the annealing process. Annealing these membranes caused a slight decrease in their gas permeance and total micropore volume but a significant increase in their gas selectivity. The results show that the properties of the nanophase additive and nanophase-polymer interactions play a pivotal role in stabilizing and determining membrane performance for air separation.