Gas permeation through mechanically resistant self-standing membranes of a neat amorphous organic cage

The synthesis and characterization of a novel film-forming organic cage and of its smaller analogue are here described. While the small cage produced single crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction studies, the large one was isolated as an amorphous solid. Due to its remarkable film-forming properties, this amorphous cage could be solution-processed into transparent thin-layer films and mechanically stable dense self-standing membranes. Thanks to these peculiar features, the membranes were also successfully tested for gas permeation, reporting a behaviour similar to that found with stiff glassy polymers such as polymers of intrinsic microporosity or polyimides. Considering the growing interest in the development of molecular-based membranes, e.g. for separation technologies and functional coatings, the properties of this organic cage were investigated by thorough analysis of their structural, thermal, mechanical and gas transport properties, and by detailed atomistic simulations.