Jan. 15 – A group of researchers from the Institute of Technology for membrane technology at the National Research Council (ITM-CNR) has developed membranes based on innovative polymeric materials thanks to a collaboration with British researchers at Cardiff University and the University of Manchester. The membranes, as described in the magazines ‘Advanced Materials’ and ‘Angewandte Chemie-International Edition’, can be used for gases and vapors’ separation applications, thanks to their high permeability combined with good separation factors. “The materials developed present a so-called intrinsic micro porosity, i.e. billions of microscopic cavities which permit the selective passage of small molecules of gas, with particularly rigid molecular structures that ensure a high free volume for the permeation of gases”, said John Jansen, from the ITM-CNR and coordinator of the study. “We used this characteristic to obtain membranes with higher performance levels to the current separation technologies used for industrial or environmental activities (for example, the nitrogen production from air or CO2 removal from exhaust gases).” The research was carried out during the DoubleNanoMem project, ‘Nanocomposite and Nanostructured Polymeric Membranes for Gas and Vapor Separations.’ The latter was funded by the European Commission within the VII Framework Program. Peter Budd, of the University of Manchester, and Neil McKeown, of Cardiff University, also co-authors of the contemporary research, developed the first polymers with intrinsic micro porosity about a decade ago. “These materials are particularly interesting because they combine the properties of classical polymeric material with ceramic materials; in turn, this allows molecular sieving through well-defined pore size,” adds Paola Bernardo, from the ITM-CNR and co-author of the study alongside Fabio Bazzarelli and Gabriele Clarizia. The research on membranes with intrinsic micro porosity is also one of the objectives of the recent PON project for the Calabria region, in which Jansen’s is involved.
