Nanogradient Hydrophilic/Hydrophobic Organosilica Membranes Developed by Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma to Enhance Pervaporation Performance

Organosilica membranes are a promising candidate for pervaporation dehydration owing to their tunable molecular sieving characteristics and excellent hydrothermal stability. Herein, we report a facile modification using an atmospheric-pressure water vapor plasma to enhance the pervaporation performance of organosilica membranes. The surface of methyl-terminated organosilica membranes was treated by water vapor plasma to develop an ultrathin separation active layer suitable for pervaporation dehydration. The surface hydrophilicity was increased by water vapor plasma due to oxidative decomposition of methyl groups to form silanol groups. The plasma-modified layer had a thickness of several nanometers and had a silica-like structure due to the condensation of silanol groups. The plasma-modified organosilica membranes exhibited an improved molecular sieving property owing to the formation of highly cross-linked siloxane networks with a pore size of approximately 0.4 nm. The membranes also exhibited an excellent permselectivity in the dehydration of alcohols due to the nanometer-thick separation active layer with controlled pore size and increased hydrophilicity. The plasma-modified membranes showed high H2O permeance exceeding 10-6 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 with permeance ratios for H2O/EtOH and H2O/IPA of 517-3050 and >10 000, respectively, in the dehydration of 90 wt % aqueous solutions at 50 °C, which is among the highest permselectivities for silica-based membranes. Furthermore, the plasma-modified membranes displayed highly efficient dehydration performance for a H2O/MeOH mixture. The H2O permeance and H2O/MeOH permeance ratio in the dehydration of a 90 wt % MeOH aqueous solution at 50 °C were (2.3-3.0) × 10-6 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 and 31-143, respectively, which exceeded the permeance-selectivity trade-off of conventional membranes including polymeric, silica-based, and zeolite membranes. The results indicate that the proposed plasma-assisted approach can enhance the pervaporation performance of organosilica membranes via the modification under atmospheric pressure and at room temperature.