Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Institutional Repository

Pre-treatment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes for polyetherimide mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes

Goh, Pei Sean and Ng, B. C. and Ismail, Ahmad Fauzi and Aziz, M. and Hayashi, Y. (2012) Pre-treatment of multi-walled carbon nanotubes for polyetherimide mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 386 (1). pp. 80-87. ISSN 0021-9797

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2012.07.033

Abstract

Mixed matrix hollow fibers composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and polyetherimide (PEI) were fabricated. Pre-treatment of MWCNTs was carried out prior to the incorporation into the polymer matrix using a simple and feasible two stages approach that involved dry air oxidation and surfactant dispersion. The characterizations of the surface treated MWCNTs using TEM and Raman spectroscopy have evidenced the effectiveness of dry air oxidation in eliminating undesired amorphous carbon and metal catalyst while surfactant dispersion using Triton X100 has suppressed the agglomeration of MWCNTs. The resultant mixed matrix hollow fibers were applied for O 2/N 2 pure gas separation. Interestingly, it was found that removal of disordered amorphous carbons and metal particles has allowed the hollow structures to be more accessible for the fast and smooth transport of gas molecules, hence resulted in noticeable improvement in the gas separation properties. The composite hollow fibers embedded with the surface modified MWCNTs showed increase in permeability as much as 60% while maintaining the selectivity of the O 2/N 2 gas pair. This study highlights the necessity to establish an appropriate pre-treatment approach for MWCNTs in order to fully utilize the beneficial transport properties of this material in mixed matrix polymer nanocomposite for gas separation.

Item Type:Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:Gas separation, Surface modification
Subjects:T Technology > TP Chemical technology
Divisions:Petroleum and Renewable Energy Engineering
ID Code:33475
Deposited By: Fazli Masari
Deposited On:28 Aug 2013 01:32
Last Modified:30 Nov 2018 06:35

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