Inorganic chemistry, cluster formation and solvent stability of PIM-1/ZnO x H y hybrid membranes synthesized via vapor phase infiltration
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: hybrid membranes through advanced spectroscopic techniques to clarify the chemistry and inorganic cluster formation in these materials that lead to enhanced stability in solvents that otherwise swell or dissolve the pure polymer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicates a predominantly zinc hydroxide chemistry with higher proportions of oxide forming only at increasing cycle counts. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy provides new understanding of the first and second coordination shells. These results indicate that the size of the clusters increases with prolonged VPI precursor exposure and additional VPI cycles, leading to improvements in membrane solvent stability. These findings offer a new understanding for how the physicochemical structure of these hybrid membranes can be characterized and then used to design for a desired performance.
DOI: 10.1039/d4cp04645e
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: MRI: Acquisition of an Energy-tunable X-ray Analytical Characterization Tool (EXACT) for Measuring Local Structure and Chemistry in Materials, DMREF: Design of Organic-Inorganic Membranes for Extreme Chemical Environments, NNCI: Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC), G410516402, G4910241638, G6653551797, G7493428122, G8666499804
OpenAlex ID: W4411855528