Membrane processes offer the potential for energy-efficiency in a wide range of application areas.  However, there is a need for membrane materials that provide enhanced transport properties (permeability and selectivity) together with good mechanical properties and resistance to long-term ageing effects.Polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) are glassy polymers which possess high free volume and high internal surface area as a consequence of their relatively inflexible, contorted macromolecular backbones.  Typically, they comprise fused ring sequences interrupted by spiro-centres.  The archetypal solution-processable PIM, referred to as PIM-1, forms membranes that are of interest for a variety of separation processes, including gas separations (e.g., CO2 recovery) and organophilic liquid separations (e.g., bioalcohol recovery).  In gas separation, PIM-1 was shown to surpass the 1991 upper bound of performance for certain gas pairs, and contributed to the revision of the upper bound by Robeson in 2008.In recent years there has been significant research on PIMs, aimed at tailoring the selectivity and at improving the ageing behaviour.  This includes: (1) bespoke monomer synthesis; (2) chemical post-modification of precursor polymers; (3) thermal or ultraviolet treatment of PIM membranes; (4) the formation of polymer blends; (5) the addition of inorganic materials, carbons (activated carbons, nanotubes, graphene), metal-organic frameworks or purely organic materials, to form mixed matrix membranes.

Development of microporous polymers for membrane applications

248th National Meeting (2014)

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