In recent years, stimuli-responsive materials have garnered interest due to their ability to change properties when exposed to external stimuli, making it useful for various applications including gas separation. Light is a very attractive trigger for responsive materials due to its speedy and non-invasive nature as well as the potential to reduce energy costs significantly. Even though light is deemed as an appealing stimulus for the development of stimuli-responsive materials, this avenue has yet to be extensively researched, as evidenced by the fewer works done on the photo-responsive membranes. Of these, there are even less research done on photo-responsive materials for the purpose of gas separation, thus, we have collected the examples that answer both these criteria in this review. This review covers the utilisation of photo-responsive materials specifically for gas separation purposes. Photo-chromic units, their integration into gas separation systems, mechanism and research that have been done on the topic so far are discussed.
In an effort to enhance the wetting resistance and chemical stability of membrane contactors, silica nanoparticles (SiNP) have been incorporated into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. These SiNP have been hydrophobically functionalized with three separate organosilicons (hexamethyldisilane, dimethyldichlorosilane, and polydimethylsiloxane) to produce TS-530, TS-610, and TS-720 SiNP. Then, they were coated with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) before adding them to the membrane casting dope. Using HyperChem, the molecular interaction between SiNP, organosilicons, and LDPE, as well as their aggregation tendency, was predicted using a semi-empirical computational approach (PM3). Both theoretical predictions and experimental results show that TS-610 and TS-720 SiNP have a high propensity to agglomerate, leading to the formation of composite membranes with large macrovoids. The HyperChem analysis, however, also indicates that LDPE/f-SiNP can resist chemical corrosion, and all composite membranes show positive binding energy interactions with amines. This enables the LDPE/f-SiNP membranes to perform better than the neat PVDF membrane with an adequate amine solution, and it remains hydrophobic after prolonged exposure.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.