Highly Permeable Graphene Oxide/Polyelectrolytes Hybrid Thin Films for Enhanced CO₂/N₂ Separation Performance

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a primary greenhouse gas, necessitating effective separation technologies.
• Graphene oxide (GO) membranes show promise for gas separation due to selective barrier properties.
• Achieving high selectivity and permeance simultaneously in GO membranes remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare and characterize nanoscale GO membranes for efficient CO2 separation.
• To optimize CO2 selectivity and permeance by controlling membrane structure.
• To investigate the influence of layer-by-layer assembly parameters on separation performance.

Main Methods:

• Layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly was employed to construct nanoscale GO membranes.
• Polyelectrolyte layers (PDAC/PSS) were used as supporting matrices to facilitate CO2 transport.
• Membrane structure was controlled by adjusting GO solution pH and the number of GO layers.

Main Results:

• The (PDAC/PSS)(GO/GO) multilayer membranes achieved a maximum CO2/N2 selectivity of 15.3.
• A CO2 permeance of 1175.0 GPU was recorded for the optimized membranes.
• Separation performance was found to be highly dependent on the number of GO bilayers.

Conclusions:

• LbL-assembled GO membranes are effective for CO2 separation, demonstrating high selectivity and permeance.
• Controlling membrane architecture through LbL assembly is crucial for optimizing gas separation performance.
• These GO-based membranes offer a viable approach for mitigating global warming through CO2 capture.