Copolymers based on facilitated transport units have been developed to take advantages of permeability to carbon dioxide (CO2). In this study, a series of gas separation membranes from poly(arylene ether sulfone)s (PAESFs) containing pendant tertiary amine were synthesized via nucleophilic substitution polycondensation. The structures of copolymers were confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The permeability and selectivity of the membranes were studied at different temperatures of 25–55°C and pressures of 0.5–1.5 atm using single gases CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrogen. Gas permeation measurements showed that copolymers containing different tertiary amine groups exhibited different separation performances. For example, the PAESF-30 containing 30 mol% tertiary amine groups showed better performance in terms of ideal selectivity over the other seven copolymer membranes. The highest CO2 permeability and ideal CO2/CH4 selectivity were achieved (p = 14.67 Barrer, α = 37.7).
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