Fabrication of Polybenzimidazole/Palladium Nanoparticles Hollow Fiber Membranes for Hydrogen Purification

A novel scheme to fabricate polybenzimidazole (PBI) hollow fiber membranes with a thin skin loaded with fully dispersed palladium nanoparticles is proposed for the first time. Palladium is added to the membrane during the spinning process in the form of ions that coordinate to the imidazole groups of the polymer. This is attractive for membrane production because agglomeration of nanoparticles is minimized and the high-cost metal is incorporated in only the selective layerwhere it is required. Pd-containing membranes achieve three orders of magnitude higher H-2 permeances and a twofold improvement in H-2/CO2 selectivity compared to pure PBI hollow fiber membranes.