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Modified Bruggeman models for prediction of CO 2 permeance in polycarbonate/silica nanocomposite membranes
Author(s) -
Idris Alamin,
Man Zakaria,
Maulud Abdulhalim Shah,
Uddin Fahim
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.22933
Subject(s) - permeance , polycarbonate , nanocomposite , materials science , membrane , nanoparticle , phase (matter) , chemical engineering , polymer , morphology (biology) , layer (electronics) , bet theory , bar (unit) , composite material , polymer chemistry , nanotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , adsorption , meteorology , geology , paleontology , permeation , biochemistry , physics , engineering
The polycarbonate membranes performances are improved by the incorporation of silica nanoparticles into the polymer matrix. Prepared PC/silica nanocomposite membranes with various silica content are considered and the experimental relative permeance of CO 2 gas at 200 kPa (2 bar) feed pressure are used as reference in the predictions using the existing theoretical models such as Maxwell‐Wagner‐Sillar, Bruggeman, Lewis‐Nielsen, Pal, and modified Pal models. TEM and BET analysis were used to characterize the silica nanoparticles; FESEM was used to characterize the morphology of the nanocomposite membranes. The TEM image of the silica nanoparticles reveals that the nanoparticles are mostly spherical. BET results reveal that the surface area and pore diameter of the silica nanoparticles are 618.8 m 2 /g and 0.28 nm, respectively. The existing models have resulted in poor predictions with errors AARE % of 26.52 to 28.02 %. Observation by FESEM image shows that the dispersed particles are surrounded by interfacial voids and rigidified polymer layer. Modified Bruggeman models that consider the interfacial volume show appreciable prediction with AARE 4.59 % being obtained with the pseudo‐two‐phase Bruggeman model. Moreover, when the model considered pseudo‐three‐phase morphology, the AARE % value reduced to 3.92 %. Thus, the contribution due to the interfacial rigidified layer was minimal.