Surface of CuO Nanoparticles Modified by p-Benzoquinone for N(2)-Selective Membrane

In this study, CuO nanoparticles and p-benzoquinone (p-BQ) were added to a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) matrix to increase N(2)/CO(2) selectivity. The added p-BQ allowed CuO to be distributed in a uniform size in the PVP/CuO composite membrane and the matrix to be flexible by forming the interaction with PVP. The surface modification of CuO by p-BQ and the well-dispersed size affected the increase in the separation performance. The PVP/CuO/p-BQ composite membranes showed an N(2)/CO(2) selectivity of about 23.1 with N(2) permeance of about 13.3 GPU, while the separation performance of PVP was not observed. The enhanced separation performance is attributable to the surface of CuO nanoparticles modified by p-BQ inducing CO(2) molecules to be relatively slowly transported by the adsorption properties in the polymer matrix. The chemical properties and coordinative interaction for PVP/CuO/p-BQ composite membrane were measured by FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, UV–vis, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy.