Membranes with artificial free-volume for biofuel production

Nikos Petzetakis; Cara M. Doherty; Aaron W. Thornton; X. Chelsea Chen; Pepa Cotanda; Anita J. Hill; Nitash P. Balsara

doi:10.1038/ncomms8529

Membranes with artificial free-volume for biofuel production

Nikos Petzetakis, Cara M. Doherty, Aaron W. Thornton, X. Chelsea Chen, Pepa Cotanda, Anita J. Hill, Nitash P. Balsara

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

Free-volume of polymers governs transport of penetrants through polymeric films. Control over free-volume is thus important for the development of better membranes for a wide variety of applications such as gas separations, pharmaceutical purifications and energy storage. To date, methodologies used to create materials with different amounts of free-volume are based primarily on chemical synthesis of new polymers. Here we report a simple methodology for generating free-volume based on the self-assembly of polyethylene-b-polydimethylsiloxane-b-polyethylene triblock copolymers. We have used this method to fabricate a series of membranes with identical compositions but with different amounts of free-volume. We use the term artificial free-volume to refer to the additional free-volume created by self-assembly. The effect of artificial free-volume on selective transport through the membranes was tested using butanol/water and ethanol/water mixtures due to their importance in biofuel production. We found that the introduction of artificial free-volume improves both alcohol permeability and selectivity.

Original language	English
Article number	7529
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8529
State	Published - Jun 24 2015
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This research was supported by the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), University of California at Berkeley. Dr C.D. was supported by CSIRO IP TCP and the Australian Research Council (DE140101359). Dr P.C. was supported by the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, supported through the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Award Number DE-SC0004993. The SAXS measurements were performed at the Advanced Light Source at LBNL, supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231.

Funders	Funder number
DOE Energy Innovation Hub
Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis
Office of Basic Energy Sciences	DE-AC02-05CH11231
US Department of Energy	DE-SC0004993
Office of Science
University of California Berkeley
Energy Biosciences Institute
Australian Research Council	DE140101359
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1038/ncomms8529

Cite this

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AU - Thornton, Aaron W.

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AU - Cotanda, Pepa

AU - Hill, Anita J.

AU - Balsara, Nitash P.

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Membranes with artificial free-volume for biofuel production

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

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