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The insoluble polyimides are the most promising group of polymer materials for fabrication of solvent stable filtration membranes suitable for operation at elevated temperatures. In order to synthesize asymmetric membranes from insoluble polyimide, it is proposed to fabricate the membranes from a pre-polymer solution (polyamide acid – PAA) by non-solvent induced phase separation method followed by imidization to form non-soluble porous polyimide membrane. The thermoplastic crystallizable polyimide R-BAPB, which is resistant to a number of known organic solvents, was chosen as a membrane material. For the first time, hollow fiber membranes based on imidized PAA (R-BAPB) with a controlled distribution of pores on the inner side of the hollow fiber were formed. It has been established that the use of “hard” non-solvents, such as water or aqueous-organic solutions, is preferable for the formation of a porous structure in the membranes based on PAA (R-BAPB). Synthesized PAA membranes were used to prepare porous membranes based on the thermoplastic polyimide R-BAPB by thermal imidization. Imidization process was confirmed by an increase in the glass transition temperature of the material to 220 °C (corresponds to the glass transition temperature of polyimide (R-BAPB)) and is accompanied by a significant increase in its elastic modulus. The results of the measurements of the transport properties of polyimide membranes for gases and liquids indicate that microfiltration transport pores are present in the membranes.

Dense bilayer PTMSP/PIM-1 membranes and PTMSP/PIM-1 blends were prepared and studied in order to obtain insight into the recently observed synergistic effect of increased CO2/N2 selectivity for thin-film composite (TFC) membranes consist of PIM-1 (selective layer) and PTMSP (gutter layer). It was shown that the mixing of these two polymers does not lead to a synergistic effect in gas permeance, since dense films made by blending of PIM-1 and PTMSP showed classical trade-off permeation/selectivity behavior. Analysis of gas-transport property data using a bicomponent resistance-in-series model allowed us to conclude that the increased N2 transport resistance of the layer formed on the border of the two polymers is presumably responsible for the increased ideal selectivity.

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) with unique transport characteristics can be prepared by the addition of the minor amounts of carbon nanotubes. Changes in the membrane performance are shown to be provided by the formation of a percolation cluster composed of nanotubes. For MMMs based on Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) containing carbon nanotubes (CNT), due to the formation of the CNT percolation cluster, gas permeability increases by a factor of 2.5-10.

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) with unique transport characteristics can be prepared by the addition of the minor amounts of carbon nanotubes. Qualitative (critical, effective, marked) changes in the membrane performance are shown to be provided by the formation of a percolation cluster composed of nanotubes. For MMMs based on poly(trimethylvinylsilane) (PVTMS) containing carbon nanotubes (CNT), due to the formation of the CNT percolation cluster, gas permeability increases by a factor of 5-15. When the CNT content in the MMMs is higher than the percolation threshold, gas permeability remains on the same level or even decreases. Numerical simulation proves that the above negative changes are provided by the agglomeration of nanotubes and subsequent deterioration of the percolation structure in the membranes.