(160h) Sulfonated Network in Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity for Gas Separation

Sulfonated polymer networks increase CO₂ uptake up to 13.5 % in sorption tests. In general, sulfonations of polymers were conducted in acid conditions such as sulfuric acid, chlorosulfonic acid or trimethylsilyl chlorosulfonate. However, polymer sulfonation may lead to further polymer cross-linking and degradation. We reported here the sulfonated network can significantly improve the gas separation performance of highly permeable polymers of intrinsic microporosity because the sulfonated groups tend to have strong molecular interactions with CO₂ and O₂. The presence of a higher degree of sulfonation in the polymer chains drives the membranes with better gas separation performance close to or above the Robeson upper bound lines for major gas-pairsseparation. Moreover, they also displayed improved anti-plasticization properties up to 30 atm using a binary CO₂/CH₄ feed gas. The newly developed advanced polymeric membranes are potential candidates for air separation, natural gas separation and CO₂ capture.