Characterization of nanoporous structures of polyphenylene oxide derived carbon membranes by means of 129Xe NMR

The (129) Xe NMR spectroscopy has become a powerful technique of materials characterization because the xenon atom has a very large polarizability. It is well known that the signal of xenon sorbed in porous media is sensitively affected by the surrounding environments such as the chemistry of material surface. In this study, the pore properties of nanoporous PPO (polyphenylene oxide) derived carbon membranes were characterized by means of the variable temperature (VT)hyperpolarized Xe NMR. The Xe NMR results showed good agreements with the adsorption results of CO2 for the PPO derived nanoporous carbon membranes. It was clearly shown that the (129) Xe NMR could be used as one of the promising characterization methods of nanoporous materials with low surface area and small pore volume.