Tuning the Gas Selectivity of Troger's Base Polyimide Membranes by Using Carboxylic Acid and Tertiary Base Interactions

Polyimide-based materials provide attractive chemistries for the development of gas-separation membranes. Modification of inter- and intra-chain interactions is a route to improve the separation performance. In this work, copolyimides with Troger's base (TB) monomers are designed and synthesized. In particular, a series of copolyimides is synthesized with different contents of carboxylic acid groups (0-50wt%) to alter the inter- and intra-chain interactions and enhance the basicity of the TB-polyimides. A detailed thermal and structural analysis is provided for the new copolyimides. Gas permeation data reveal a tunable trend in separation performance with increasing carboxylic acid group content. Importantly, this is one of the few examples of copolyimide membranes materials that show enhanced plasticization resistance to high-pressure gas feeds through physical cross-linking.