Key Features of Polyimide-Derived Carbon Molecular Sieves

Carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membranes have impressive separation properties; however, both chemical and morphology structures need to be understood better. Here we characterize CMS with the simplest polyimide (PI) PMDA/pPDA (PMDA=pyromellitic dianhydride, pPDA=p-phenylenediamine), using FTIR, solid-state ¹⁵N-NMR and ¹³C-NMR, XPS, XRD, and Raman spectra to study chemical structure. We also compare gas separation properties for this CMS to a CMS derived from a more conventional PI precursor. The detailed characterization shows the presence of aromatic pyridinic, pyrrolic rings as well as graphitic, pyridonic components and a few other groups in both CMS types derived from the very different precursors. The CMS morphologies, while related to precursor and pyrolysis temperature details, show similarities consistent with a physical picture comprising distributed molecular sieving plate-like structures. These results assist in understanding diverse CMS membrane separation performance.