Microporous polymers, best known as polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs), have emerged as a new generation of membrane materials for gas separation applications, defining the most recent upper bounds for many industrially relevant gas pairs. PIMs usually exhibit very high gas permeability but moderate selectivity. We recently developed a series of microporous hydrocarbon ladder polymers with rigid norbornyl benzocyclobutene backbones, and discovered that the gas separation performance of these polymer membranes can be dramatically enhanced by tuning the polymer chain configurations. With optimal design, we have obtained mechanically robust membranes with an unprecedented combination of remarkably high selectivity and permeability, surpassing the state-of-the-art upper bounds of many gas separations, even in mixed gas streams.

Hydrocarbon ladder polymers with ultrahigh permselectivity for membrane gas separations

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.