Background
In CO2 electrolysers, membranes separate the cathode and anode chambers allowing selective exchange between them. Commercially available polymer membranes perform poorly with extended use, and there are significant gaps in understanding the complex transport mechanisms in these materials. Membranes can also be used ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’ in CO2 conversion. Upstream membranes could enable CO2 conversion from dilute CO2 sources while downstream membrane separation can help harvest targeted products.
Aims
To develop high-performance membranes to achieve selective separation of ions and molecules crucial to CO2 electrolyser operation by establishing design and fabrication principles and operating regimes.
Outcomes
New characterisation and modelling tools will support the development of novel membranes with molecule-specific pore geometries and chemical functionality. New membranes with precise molecular separation abilities will have far-reaching industrial impacts in pharmaceutical, energy, environmental, petrochemical and clinical applications.
RT3A: Advanced membranes for gas separation – enabling CO2 capture from flue gas and direct air capture
Project Lead – Dr Jingwei Hou
This project will develop a series of highly selective and stable polymeric and mixed matrix membranes for CO2 separation. Both flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes will be fabricated and tested, with the aim for eventual integration with the CO2 electrolyer devices.
RT3B: Robust ion-exchange membrane for CO2 electrolyser
Project Lead – Professor Xiwang Zhang
To overcome the drawbacks of existing ion exchange membranes, our approaches and strategies are to 1) design and synthesize new polymer with tailorable molecular structure and chemical properties at molecular level; 2) design and synthesize advanced materials with uniform intrinsic pores, such as 2D materials, MOFs and COFs; 3) construct composite and hybrid membranes by coupling the new polymers and advanced materials. The PEMs and HEMs membranes need to have high selectivity, long-term durability, low cost and high scalability.
RT3C: Zeolite-based membranes for CO2 direct air capture: a multi-scale approach
Project Lead – Associate Professor Simon Smart
This project aims to implement a powerful multiscale approach for the design of polymer-zeolite composite membranes for CO2 separation from air using first principles by tailoring their interfacial properties, on which the separation performance critically depends.