Simultaneously improving the anti-aging and gas separation performance of high-permeability membrane based on H-bonding interaction

Physical aging presents a significant challenge that hinders the practical application of high-permeability polymer-based membranes. Herein, we have designed a polymer network membrane (PI–CO@Trip-TB (1:10)) featuring H-bonding interactions by regulating the ratio of the carboxyl-containing copolymer PI-CO (6FDA-FDA-DABA) to Trip-TB (Tröger's base), which significantly improved the anti-aging performance without compromising the high permeability. The introduction of PI-CO not only generates H-bonding interactions to enhance compatibility, but also the introduction of its linear chain segments effectively hinders the relaxation of the chain of the Trip-TB spatial structure. Which synergistically stabilizes the free volume elements and mitigates the rate of their temporal collapse. Compared to Trip-TB, the PI-CO@Trip-TB (1:10) polymer network membrane demonstrates outstanding anti-aging performance, in which the permeability of CO 2 and O 2 is maintained at approximately 60 % even after 90 days. Notably, the performance of both fresh and aged PI-CO@Trip-TB (1:10) membranes surpasses the 2008 Robeson upper bound (CO 2 /CH 4 ) and the 2015 Robeson upper bound (O 2 /N 2 ). Overall, this study establishes an effective strategy for designing high-permeability polymers with anti-aging properties for practical applications in separation membranes.