Gas permeation and selectivity of poly(dimethylsiloxane)/graphene oxide composite elastomer membranes

The gas transport properties of graphene oxides (GO) incorporated into highly elastic poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)/G0 elastomers synthesized from graphite and telechelic, amine-terminated PDMS were investigated. To develop broad fundamental understanding of the connection between composite architecture and gas transport properties, both gas barrier and separation characteristics were evaluated. The permeability for several common gases was studied as a function of GO concentration. Incorporating only 3.55 vol% (8 wt%) GO into the PDMS matrix resulted in a more than 99.9% reduction in gas permeation for various gases, such as H-2, O-2, N-2, CH4 and CO2. Moreover, factor of two enhancements in gas selectivities were observed for CO2/N-2 and CO2/CH4 compared to neat PDMS membranes. As a supplement to experimental data from scanning-electron and atomic-force microscopy and x-ray diffraction, theoretical models such as the Nielsen and Cussler models were applied to comprehend the dispersion and alignment of GO in the polymer. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.