Synthesis and Characterisation of ETS-10/Acetate-based Ionic Liquid/Chitosan Mixed Matrix Membranes for CO(2)/N(2) Permeation

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared by incorporating organic surfactant-free hydrothermally synthesised ETS-10 and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ionic liquid (IL) to chitosan (CS) polymer matrix. The membrane material characteristics and permselectivity performance of the two-component membranes were compared with the three-component membrane and the pure CS membrane. The addition of IL increased CO(2) solubility of the polymer, and, thus, the CO(2) affinity was maintained for the MMMs, which can be correlated with the crystallinity, measured by FT-IR, and void fraction calculations from differences between theoretical and experimental densities. The mechanical resistance was enhanced by the ETS-10 nanoparticles, and flexibility decreased in the two-component ETS-10/CS MMMs, but the flexibility imparted by the IL remained in three-component ETS-10/IL/CS MMMs. The results of this work provide insight into another way of facing the adhesion challenge in MMMs and obtain CO(2) selective MMMs from renewable or green chemistry materials.