Preferential CO₂ Separation over Nitrogen by a Free-standing and Nanometer-thick Membrane

Membrane thinning is important approach to enhance gas permeation properties of CO₂ capture membranes. We employed cross linkable polymer materials, conventional epoxy resin containing amino groups, for the preparation of free-standing and ultrathin nanomembrane. By simple spincoating, nanometer-thick epoxy membranes were fabricated and detached as a free-standing membrane. The thickness of a membrane was readily controllable by spincoating speed and polymer concentration. Although as-prepared nanomembrane did not show CO₂ selectivity over N₂, wet membrane shows high CO₂ selectively. Further sophistication of membrane material design and reduction of membrane thickness would be a promising approach to prepare preferential CO₂ separation membrane with high gas flux. Published by Elsevier Ltd.