Abstract
This study focuses on the fabrication of sodalite-polyimide nanocomposite membranes by applying organic-functionalised sodalite nanocrystals. Sodalite nanocrystals with amino organic functional groups (=Si-(CH{3})(CH{2}) {3}NH{2}) were synthesized by direct transformation of silicalite nanocrystals. The produced sodalite crystals had an average particle size of 103 nm and good dispersibility in DMF organic solvent. By incorporating organic-functionalised sodalite nanoparticles into polyimide polymers, sodalite-polyimide nanocomposite membranes with up to 15 wt% zeolite nanocrystal loading were fabricated. Their SEM image for cross-section indicated that there were no voids between organic polyimide polymers and inorganic nanocrystals. The mass loss of polyimide was 100% after TGA, compared to 86.8% of sodalite-polyimide nanocomposite membranes. DTG results showed that the differential temperature of nanocomposite membranes centred at around 580 C, which was higher than that of pure polyimide polymers (570 C).