Playing with ionic liquid mixtures to design engineered CO₂ separation membranes

Ionic liquids have been explored as attractive alternative media for CO₂ separation not only due to their low volatility but also due to their highly tuneable nature. Aiming at designing highly efficient liquid phases for flue gas separation and natural gas purification, this work focuses on the use of binary ionic liquid mixtures containing sulfate and/or cyano-functionalized anions. Several mixtures were prepared and their gas transport properties through supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) were investigated. The thermophysical properties of these mixtures, namely viscosity and density (data presented and discussed in ESI), were also measured so that trends between transport properties and thermophysical properties could be evaluated. The results obtained indicate that depending on the anions mixed, membranes with fine-tuned gas permeabilities, diffusivities and solubilities can be obtained. Additionally, SILMs prepared with these ionic liquid mixtures are on the upper bound of the CO₂/N₂ separation, or even may surpass it, indicating their potential for separating CO₂ in low-pressure post-combustion processes. Overall, the use of ionic liquid mixtures combining the most selective anions with the least viscous anions is a highly promising strategy to design advanced engineered liquid phases for CO₂ separation membranes.