Crosslinked Polytriazoles toward Chemically Stable Separations Membranes

Abstract

Membranes have emerged as energy efficient molecular separation platforms relative to traditional energy-intensive processes in the fields of hydrocarbon separations and water desalination. However, membranes are seldom used in large scale industrial separations because they suffer from (1) high cost and (2) difficulty in tunability between different separation processes. Ultra-thin membranes can decrease operation costs and as well as decrease polymer cost by using less material. However, current ultra-thin polyamide membranes are not capable of withstanding the harsh cleaning and pretreatment conditions used in water desalination. To achieve the goal of chemical resistant membranes, the copper-catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) reaction was used to create highly stable and chemical resistant triazole linkages throughout the polymer membrane. Additionally, triazoles were used to crosslink polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs), to add to PIMs already exceptional gas properties and address PIMs deficiencies in liquid separations. Furthermore, interfacial polymerization was used to create ultra-thin polytriazole membranes. Lastly, CuO hollow fiber membranes were used as a macroporous support to simultaneously add mechanical stability to the polytriazole membranes and catalyze the CuAAC reaction on the surface, creating a polytriazole composite hollow fiber membrane.