Material Design Concepts and Gas Separation Mechanism of CO 2 Selective Polyether-Based Multiblock Copolymers.

Aliphatic polyethers have been widely explored as membrane materials for the separation of CO 2 from other gases, e.g., N 2 , H 2 , CH 4, O 2 etc. The polymeric membranes having aliphatic polyether segments, especially poly(ethylene oxide) segments, allow faster permeation of CO 2 compared to the light gases due to the affinity of the polar ether oxygen and quadrupolar CO 2 . Rational macromolecular design is the key to control the permeation of gases through these membrane materials. In this regard, multiblock copolymers having short amorphous polyether segments have been extensively investigated. A large number of tailor made polymers have been reported to get the best combination of permeability and selectivity. Material design concepts and structure-property relationships of these membrane materials in terms of CO 2 separation performance are thoroughly discussed in this review.