Top-Down Polyelectrolytes for Membrane-Based Post-Combustion CO(2) Capture

Polymer-based CO(2) selective membranes offer an energy efficient method to separate CO(2) from flue gas. ‘Top-down’ polyelectrolytes represent a particularly interesting class of polymer materials based on their vast synthetic flexibility, tuneable interaction with gas molecules, ease of processability into thin films, and commercial availability of precursors. Recent developments in their synthesis and processing are reviewed herein. The four main groups of post-synthetically modified polyelectrolytes discern ionised neutral polymers, cation and anion functionalised polymers, and methacrylate-derived polyelectrolytes. These polyelectrolytes differentiate according to the origin and chemical structure of the precursor polymer. Polyelectrolytes are mostly processed into thin-film composite (TFC) membranes using physical and chemical layer deposition techniques such as solvent-casting, Langmuir-Blodgett, Layer-by-Layer, and chemical grafting. While solvent-casting allows manufacturing commercially competitive TFC membranes, other methods should still mature to become cost-efficient for large-scale application. Many post-synthetically modified polyelectrolytes exhibit outstanding selectivity for CO(2) and some overcome the Robeson plot for CO(2)/N(2) separation. However, their CO(2) permeance remain low with only grafted and solvent-casted films being able to approach the industrially relevant performance parameters. The development of polyelectrolyte-based membranes for CO(2) separation should direct further efforts at promoting the CO(2) transport rates while maintaining high selectivities with additional emphasis on environmentally sourced precursor polymers.