Selective Permeation of Hydrogen Gas Using Cellulose Nanofibril Film

Biobased membranes that can selectively permeate hydrogen gas have been developed from aqueous dispersions of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCN) prepared from wood cellulose: TOCN-coated plastic films and self-standing TOCN films. Compared with TOCNs with sodium, lithium, potassium, and cesium carboxylate groups, TOCN with free carboxyl groups (TOCN-COOH) had much high and selective H-2 gas permeation performance. Because permeabilities of H-2, N-2, O-2, and CO2 gases through the membranes primarily depended on their kinetic diameters, the gas permeation behavior of the various TOCNs can be explained in terms of a diffusion mechanism. Thus, the selective H-2 gas permeability for TOCN-COOH was probably due to a larger average size in free volume holes present between nanofibrils in the layer and film than those of other TOCNs with metal carboxylate groups. The obtained results indicate that TOCN-COOH membranes are applicable as biobased H-2 gas separation membranes in fuel cell electric power generation systems.