Comparison of ZnO nanofillers of different shapes on physical, thermal and gas transport properties of PEBA membrane: experimental testing and molecular simulation

Abstract

BACKGROUND PEBA and nano‐ZnO have been discussed for membrane modification and for gas separation in different studies and in mixed matrix membranes (i.e. PEBA/TiO2, PE/ZnO); however, no report has been published on the gas transport properties of ZnO/PEBA hybrid membranes. RESULTS Molecular simulation and experimental approaches were done using PEBA 1657 mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) loaded with ZnO nanorod‐ and nanosphere shaped nanomaterials at 0.5 wt% and 1 wt% loading to investigate the gas separation properties of these MMMs. Structural characterizationwas carried out by FESEM, AFM, BET and FTIR on synthesized membranes, and FFV and WAXD on the simulated membrane cells to study their structural properties. Thermal analysis was carried out by TGA, DMTA and calculation of the glass transition temperature to investigate the thermal properties of the MMMs. The results showed that the addition of ZnO filler significantly improved both the physical and thermal properties of the MMMs based on the characterization tests. The transport properties of the MMMs for three single light gas molecules (CO2, CH4 and N2) were investigated using experimental set‐up testing (permeability and selectivity), and also by molecular dynamic and Monte Carlo approaches in molecular simulation (diffusivity and solubility). The addition of ZnO nanomaterials in both shapes to the polymeric membrane significantly increased the transport properties; for example, CO2 permeability increased from 120 for membrane without nanomaterial to 135 barrer for membrane with 0.5 wt% of nanosphere ZnO and 157 barrer for membrane with 0.5 wt% nanorod ZnO. CONCLUSION The permeability of CH4 and N2 gases into all samples showed no significant change with an increase in pressure or ZnO loading which is likely due to the penetration paths in the membranes. The membrane with 1 wt% ZnO nanorods had the best performance in the Robeson upper bound 2008 diagram. This sample is thus suggested for industrial development. The simulation results showed a similar trend for the membranes and gas molecules, with an error of 25% to 65% from experimental results. We conclude that the PEBA/1 wt% ZnO nanorods membrane could be an ideal solid polymer membrane for gas separation applications. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry

Novel Ultrathin Films Based on a Blend of PEG-b-PCL and PLLA and Doped with ZnO Nanoparticles

“…Despite that, these samples were featured by a higher roughness. These outcomes are in line with other reports in which the addition of nanofillers increased the overall roughness of the polymeric matrix. , …”

“…These outcomes are in line with other reports in which the addition of nanofillers increased the overall roughness of the polymeric matrix. 43,44 The contact angle values reported in Figure 1D highlighted a hydrophilic behavior for all formulations, essentially due to the presence of PEG domains that counteract the hydrophobicity of both PCL and PLLA. The contact angle values decreased from 60.76 ± 5.61°for the bare nanofilm down to 49.65 ± 1.67°for the PEG-b-PCL/PLLA-1 formulation, with an inversely proportional relationship between contact angle values and roughness.…”

Functionalization of silica nanoparticles to reduce membrane swelling in CO2 absorption process

“…In the present work, the incorporation of silica nanoparticles inside the membrane matrix produced a preferential diffusion path for the CO 2 gas molecules while functioning as a diffusion obstacle for N 2 to increase the selectivity . Moreover, even before surface coating of silica particles with LDPE, the nanoparticles had been treated previously with HMDS to replace the hydroxyl groups on the nanoparticle surface (courtesy of Cabot, USA).…”

“…8 In the present work, the incorporation of silica nanoparticles inside the membrane matrix produced a preferential diffusion path for the CO 2 gas molecules while functioning as a diffusion obstacle for N 2 to increase the selectivity. 44,45 Moreover, even before surface coating of silica particles with LDPE, the nanoparticles had been treated previously with HMDS to replace the hydroxyl groups on the nanoparticle surface (courtesy of Cabot, USA). After replacing hydrophilic hydroxyl groups of silica by methyl groups of HMDS, 46,47 the hydrophobicity of the nanoparticles enhanced, thus leading to an increase in wetting resistance that shows stable long-term MGA performance.…”

Alumina-PEBA/ PSf Multilayer composite membranes for CO2 separation: experimental and molecular simulation studies

“…Moreover, the availability and low prices of these particles make them a suitable choice for the mixed matrix membranes preparation in the case of CO 2 /N 2 and CO 2 /CH 4 separations [19][20][21][22]. Some researchers have studied the incorporation of metal oxide particles such as TiO 2 [11,24], ZnO [25,26], SiO 2 [27,28], and γ-Al 2 O 3 [29] into PEBA membranes that improved the separation performance of this polymer. Azizi et al fabricated a mixed matrix membrane by dispersing SiO 2 , TiO 2 , and γ-Al 2 O 3 into PEBA 1074 and compared the permeability performance of these three types of mixed matrix membranes.…”