Gas separation properties of aromatic poly(amide-imide) membranes

Aromatic poly(amide-imide)s were synthesized using direct 2,2-bis[N-(4-carboxyphenyl)-phthalimidyl] hexafluoropropane (6FDIA) polycondensation with various diamines containing flexible ether groups and bulky substituents. The oxygen and nitrogen gas transport in the poly(amide-imide) membranes was investigate at 35 °C with the pressure between the interval at 2–10 atm. The proposed method is expected to promote the gas permeability of the poly(amide-imide) membrane and maintain the gas selectivity. It was found that both gas permeability and selectivity of poly(amide-imide) membranes increased with increasing fractional free volume and d-spacing. The gas permeability had good correlation with the γ-transition temperature. The bulky pendent group introduced into diamine moiety of poly(amide-imide) could efficiently promote the gas permeability. For the behaviors of gas separation, the gas diffusivity coefficient and solubility selectivity controlled the gas permeability and selectivity, respectively. The sorption behavior of the aromatic poly(amide-imide) membranes can be well explained using the dual mode sorption model. The Langmuir capacity constant and Henry’s law constant increase with FFV increasing. 6F-TBAPS has the best O2/N2 separation performance among the poly(amide-imide) membranes.