Preparation of gas separation membranes by plasma polymerization with fluoro compounds

Plasma polymerization coatings were applied for the preparation of gas separation membranes. Mainly fluoro compounds were used as coating materials. The membranes showed good separation characteristics with high flux for gaseous systems. The plasma polymerization composite parameter given by W/FM plays an important role in obtaining excellent separation characteristics. The correlation between the conversion rate DR/FM, where DR is the deposition rate of plasma polymer, and W/FM is useful to consider the plasma polymer character under the different plasma polymerization conditions (discharge power W and monomer flow rate F). The proper conditions for membrane preparation lie in the intermediate region between the region in which the monomer flow rate is deficient and that in which the discharge power is deficient. Furthermore, the plasma polymerization coatings with the higher molecular weight monomer gave the higher separation characteristics. Plasma polymer composite membranes in this study showed superiority for the molecular sieve type of separation over the solution-diffusion type of separation.