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Structure and gas permeation of nanoporous carbon membranes based on RF resin/F-127 with variable catalysts

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Abstract

Nanoporous carbon membranes (NCMs) were fabricated by the blends of resorcinol–formaldehyde (RF) resin and Pluronic F-127 through the processes of assembly, membrane-casting, solidification, and pyrolysis. The effect of the catalyst type (i.e., NaOH and Na2CO3) on the structure and property of precursors and their derived NCMs was investigated. The as-obtained precursors and NCMs were characterized by thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, elemental analysis, nitrogen adsorption, and gas permeation techniques. The results have shown that defect-free NCMs can be easily procured by the NaOH and Na2CO3 catalysts. In contrast, the precursor made from the Na2CO3 catalyst exhibits higher char yield than that from NaOH after pyrolysis. NaOH-based NCMs are beneficial for the separation of H2/N2 and CO2/N2 gas pairs. Na2CO3-based NCMs are more favorable for the separation of O2/N2 with an ideal selectivity of 6.29 and an O2 permeability of 3.27 Barrer.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20906063), the Liaoning Natural Science Foundation of China (20102170), the Program for Liaoning Excellent Talents in University (LJQ2012010), and the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals (KF1107).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Petrochemical Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Liaoyang, 111003, China

    Bing Zhang, Xiaolong Dang, Yonghong Wu & Hongjing Liu

  2. Carbon Research Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Tonghua Wang & Jieshan Qiu

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  1. Bing Zhang
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  2. Xiaolong Dang
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  3. Yonghong Wu
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Correspondence to Bing Zhang.

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Zhang, B., Dang, X., Wu, Y. et al. Structure and gas permeation of nanoporous carbon membranes based on RF resin/F-127 with variable catalysts. Journal of Materials Research 29, 2881–2890 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.327

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