TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhanced gas permeation through graphene nanocomposites
AU - Berean, Kyle J.
AU - Ou, Jian Zhen
AU - Nour, Majid
AU - Field, Matthew R.
AU - Alsaif, Manal M. Y. A.
AU - Wang, Yichao
AU - Ramanathan, Rajesh
AU - Bansal, Vipul
AU - Kentish, Sandra
AU - Doherty, Cara M.
AU - Hill, Anita J.
AU - McSweeney, Chris
AU - Kaner, Richard B.
AU - Kalantar-zadeh, Kourosh
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The use of membranes for gas permeation and phase separation offers many distinct advantages over other more energy-dependent processes. The operational efficiencies of these membranes rely heavily on high gas permeability. Here, we report membranes with significantly increased permeability without a considerable decrease in mechanical strength or selectivity, synthesized from a polymer nanocomposite that incorporates graphene and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). These graphene-PDMS nanocomposite membranes were able to enhance the gas permeation of N2, CO2, Ar, and CH4 in reference to pristine PDMS membranes. This is achieved by creating interfacial voids between the graphene flakes and polymer chains, which increases the fractional free volume within the nanocomposites, giving rise to an increase in permeation. An optimal loading of graphene was found to be 0.25 wt%, while greater loading created agglomeration of the graphene flakes, hence reducing the effective surface area. We present the enhancements that the membranes can provide to sensing and phase separation applications. We show that these nanocomposites are near transparent to CO2 gas molecules in sensing measurements. This study offers a new area of research for graphene-based nanocomposites.
AB - The use of membranes for gas permeation and phase separation offers many distinct advantages over other more energy-dependent processes. The operational efficiencies of these membranes rely heavily on high gas permeability. Here, we report membranes with significantly increased permeability without a considerable decrease in mechanical strength or selectivity, synthesized from a polymer nanocomposite that incorporates graphene and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). These graphene-PDMS nanocomposite membranes were able to enhance the gas permeation of N2, CO2, Ar, and CH4 in reference to pristine PDMS membranes. This is achieved by creating interfacial voids between the graphene flakes and polymer chains, which increases the fractional free volume within the nanocomposites, giving rise to an increase in permeation. An optimal loading of graphene was found to be 0.25 wt%, while greater loading created agglomeration of the graphene flakes, hence reducing the effective surface area. We present the enhancements that the membranes can provide to sensing and phase separation applications. We show that these nanocomposites are near transparent to CO2 gas molecules in sensing measurements. This study offers a new area of research for graphene-based nanocomposites.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:71523
U2 - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b02995
DO - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b02995
M3 - Article
SN - 1932-7447
VL - 119
SP - 13700
EP - 13712
JO - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
JF - Journal of Physical Chemistry C
IS - 24
ER -