Preparation and Property Investigation of NaA Zeolite-Filled Polysulfone Composite Membranes

Modification of polysulfone was carried out by incorporating NaA zeolite and then a few polysulfone composite membranes were fabricated by the solution casting method. The morphology, tensile strength, weight loss and O(2) permeation of these membranes were examined. The results show that NaA zeolite particles could be well-dispersed in the polysulfone matrix with much better interfacial compatibility at low zeolite loadings. The composite membranes are found to exhibit marginally-improved thermal stability but much lower tensile strength, which approximately linearly decreases with the zeolite content. The O(2) permeation tests show that the permeability considerably decreases after incorporating NaA zeolite and further decreases at higher zeolite loadings. When the zeolite content is 5 wt%, the O(2) permeability decreases by 21%. As the zeolite loadings increases to 20 wt%, the O(2) permeability is considerably decreased by about 55%. These results reflect that after introduced by NaA zeolite the internal structure of polymer matrix has experienced a revolution and then hindered the gas permeation, hence, the added zeolite has obstructed the gas permeation.