Polymers, polymer membranes and methods of producing the same

Abstract

A method for preparing a polymeric material includes: providing a polymeric matrix having at least one polymer and at least one porogen; and degrading the at least one porogen at a temperature T≦1.1 T, where Tis a glass transition temperature of the polymeric matrix. The degrading step includes exposing the polymeric matrix to thermal degradation, chemical degradation, electrical degradation and/or radiation degradation, wherein the polymeric material has a permeability at least 1.2 times a permeability of the polymeric matrix for a gas, and a selectivity of the polymeric material is at least 0.35 times a selectivity of the polymeric matrix for a gas pair. The method preferably provides gas separation membranes that exceed Robeson's upper bound relationship for at least one gas separation pair. Novel polymeric materials, gas separation membranes and fluid component separation methods are also described.