Solution‐Processable, Ladder‐Branched Polyimides of Intrinsic Microporosity by [4+4] Cycloaddition for Membrane Gas Separation
Name
Advanced Materials - 2025 - Lee - Solution‐Processable Ladder‐Branched Polyimides of Intrinsic Microporosity by 4 4 .pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.44 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ac0fd5cb5b70c8da6c41307132cb532b
Author(s)
Lee, Tae Hoon
Dean, Pablo A
Yeo, Jing Ying
Smith, Zachary P
Date Issued
October 15, 2025
Journal
Advanced Materials
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
Lee, Tae Hoon, Dean, Pablo A, Yeo, Jing Ying and Smith, Zachary P. 2025. "Solution‐Processable, Ladder‐Branched Polyimides of Intrinsic Microporosity by [4+4] Cycloaddition for Membrane Gas Separation." Advanced Materials.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Advancements in membrane-based gas separation have the potential to address global challenges related to energy and the environment. However, new membrane materials must have excellent separation performance, stability, and processability, and simultaneously achieving all three metrics is extremely challenging. To circumvent these issues, a post-synthetic modification of polyimides of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-PIs) synthesized with a UV light (UV)-reactive anthracene co-monomer is reported. UV irradiation on the PIM-PI solution converts the anthracene units into dianthracene linkages by [4+4] cycloaddition, while the resultant PIM-PI is still solution-processable due to the branched structure. The ladder-like dianthracene moieties significantly increased both microporosity (<20 Å) and ultramicroporosity (<7 Å) of the precursor PIM-PI. Notably, the UV-treated PIM-PI membrane exhibits a large boost in pure-gas CO2 permeability by up to 260%, reaching 376 barrer, while maintaining CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity of 35 at 1 bar. Moreover, the developed membrane material has enhanced stability against physical aging and plasticization and showcases excellent CO2/CH4 mixed-gas selectivity (>30 up to 31 bar feed pressure), which surpasses the 2018 mixed-gas upper bound.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202513892
