High CO2 permeation flux enabled by highly interconnected three-dimensional ionic channels in selective CO2 separation membranes

Abstract

Abatement of CO₂ emissions from existing fossil-fueled power plants is currently the sole near-term solution to stabilize CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere. Separation and capture of CO₂ from process streams of these power plants is the first step toward this effort. In this paper, we report a high flux membrane consisting of highly and efficiently interconnected three-dimensional ionic channels prepared from a combined “co-precipitation” and “sacrificial-template” synthesis. The membranes exhibit remarkable CO₂ permeation characteristic, achieving a CO₂ flux density two orders of magnitude higher than other similar systems reported in the literature. The experimental results also have an excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions. Overall, the demonstrated dual-phase membranes show a great promise for selective pre-combustion CO₂ separation.