Influence of TiO₂ on the Chemical, Mechanical, and Gas Separation Properties of Polyvinyl Alcohol-Titanium Dioxide (PVA-TiO₂) Nanocomposite Membranes

Abstract

PVA/TiO₂ nanocomposite membranes developed were investigated for chemical, mechanical, and gas separation properties. PVA/TiO₂ dispersion offers good optical property and less aggregation, as shown by UV-vis photospectroscopy. FT-IR spectra suggest strong interaction between PVA and TiO₂. Mechanical properties of the composite membranes were enhanced by the addition of TiO₂. Permeation results show that the addition of TiO₂ up to 20 wt.% increased the selectivity of gas pairs O₂/N_2, H₂/N_2, H₂/CO₂, and CO₂/N₂ by 60%, 55%, 23%, and 26% respectively, with a corresponding decrease in the permeability. At higher loading of TiO_2, a reverse trend was observed.

Keywords:

• FT-IR
• Mechanical properties
• Nanocomposite membrane
• Permeation
• PVA

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Norwegian Research Council through the CCERT project. The authors gratefully acknowledge the inputs from Kalim Deshmukh in writing the manuscript and his technical assistance and fruitful discussions during this research work.