Introduction of Nitrobenzene Compounds as Polarizer for Inducing Surface Partial Charge of Silver Nanoparticles in Facilitated Olefin Transport Membranes
Facilitated olefin transport membrane, containing positively charged silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as olefin carriers dispersed in poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), leads extremely high separation performances for propylene/propane mixtures. In this study, as representatives of electron withdrawing nitrobenzene compounds, 1,2-dinitrobenzene (DNB) and 3,4-dinitro toluene (DNT) were used for PVP/AgNPs membranes. The correlation between the surface charge density of AgNPs and the separation performance was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A fairly good linear correlation between the surface charge density and the separation performance was confirmed, which meant that the positive charge density on the surface of AgNPs may be a key factor in determining the separation performance of facilitated olefin transport membranes.