A Novel UIO-66/Pebax® 1657 Mixed Matrix Membrane Exhibiting Superior CO2 Separation Performance via Nonthermal Air Plasma Modification

Graphical A novel UIO-66/Pebax® 1657 mixed matrix membrane is developed via air plasma modification, significantly enhancing CO₂ separation performance. The plasma treatment introduces ─NH₂ groups and active sites, improving interfacial compatibility and CO₂ adsorption. The membrane achieves a CO₂ permeability of 453 Barrer and CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 37.8 demonstrating superior gas separation efficiency and stability. This paper synthesized a new mixed matrix membrane for CO 2 separation. First, the metal-organic framework UIO-66 was treated with air plasma for modification and then embedded in Pebax® 1657. The 10% UIO-66/Pebax® 1657 mixed matrix membranes treated with air plasma significantly improved interfacial compatibility and CO 2 adsorption capacity, showing excellent performance. Its permeability reached 453 Barrer as CO 2 and the selectivity was 37.8 as CO 2 /N 2 . It was confirmed by characterization techniques such as FTIR, XRD, XPS, TGA, NMR, and SEM that the plasma successfully introduced ─NH 2 groups and active sites on the UIO-66 surface, thereby significantly improving the interfacial compatibility and adsorption characteristics of the mixed matrix membrane. In this study, the high-performance CO 2 separation membrane aP-UIO-66/Pebax was innovatively enhanced through the synergistic effects of graft modification and defect engineering on UIO-66 using nonthermal plasma technology. This approach offers a novel strategy for membrane performance optimization.