Tailoring Crosslinked Polyether Networks for Separation of CO2 from Light Gases

Abstract

Crosslinked poly(ethylene oxide) or poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is an ideal membrane material for separation of CO2 from light gases (e.g., H2, N2, O2, CH4 etc). In these membranes, crosslinking is used as a tool to suppress crystallinity of the PEG segments. In spite of the extensive effort to develop crosslinked PEG membranes in the last two decades, it remains a challenge to establish the structure–property relationships. This paper points out the fundamental limitations to correlate the chain topology of a network with the gas permeation mechanism. While a quantitative comparison of the molecular weight between crosslinks of networks and gas permeation mechanism reported by different research groups is challenging, effort is made to draw a qualitative picture. In this review, a focus is also put on the progress of utilization of dangling chain fractions to tailor the gas permeation behavior of PEG networks.