Gas transport through polymer membranes and free volume percolation

We consider the influence of structural and dynamical properties of a polymer membrane on the gas transport through this matrix. The diffusant and the polymer only interact through repulsive interactions. In the case of a glassy polymer, when one can consider the matrix as frozen, the gas particle diffusion is determined by the free volume structure of the system. We show how the percolation properties of the free volume show up in a subdiffusive behavior of the diffusant. When one takes matrix mobility into account the ideal percolation transition vanishes but its trace can still be found in a subdiffusive regime in the gas particle mean square displacement. In the statically non-percolating regime gas transport is enabled and dominated through matrix mobility, whereas in the percolating regime it is determined by matrix structure.