Chitosan/ZIF-8 Mixed-Matrix Membranes for Pervaporation Dehydration of Isopropanol

Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized and embedded into a chitosan (CS) polymeric matrix to prepare CS/ZIF-8 mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) in order to investigate the effect of ZIF-8 addition as novel filler on the dehydration performance of the CS polymeric membrane. MMMs were evaluated using pervaporation (PV) dehydration of isopropanol (IPA). The synthesized ZIF-8 nanoparticles and MMMs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and a swelling study. The PV performance of the prepared MMMs with different ZIF-8 loadings for IPA dehydration was investigated. For the ZIF-8/CS MMMs, at the optimum loading the total flux increases significantly with low separation factor reduction. The good PV performance of the ZIF-8-incorporated CS membranes for dehydration of IPA is demonstrated.