Preparation and characterization of carbon membranes made from poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone)

Abstract Carbon membranes were prepared from a novel polymeric precursor of poly(phthalazinone ether sulfone ketone) (PPESK), of which the changes of microstructure and chemical compositions during pyrolysis from 500 °C to 950 °C were monitored by thermal gravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It has been found that the weight loss of the PPESK precursor up to 800 °C is about 43.0 wt%. After the heat treatment, the typical chemical structure of the PPESK precursor disappears, at the same time a graphite-like structure with more aromatic rings is formed. The interlayer spacing (i.e., d value) decreases from 0.471 nm to 0.365 nm as the pyrolysis temperature increases. The gas permeation performance of carbon membranes has been tested using pure single gases including H 2 , CO 2 , O 2 and N 2 . For the carbon membrane obtained by carbonizing the PPESK precursor at 800 °C, the maximum ideal permselectivities for H 2 /N 2 , CO 2 /N 2 and O 2 /N 2 gas pairs could reach 278.5, 213.8 and 27.5, respectively.