A Highly Permeable Mixed Matrix Membrane Containing a Vertically Aligned Metal-Organic Framework for CO2 Separation

Jia Wang; Yinghui Xu; Hongqiang Qu; Haiyun Ma; Ran Chang; Jing Ma

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c16085

A Highly Permeable Mixed Matrix Membrane Containing a Vertically Aligned Metal-Organic Framework for CO₂ Separation

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Oct 27;13(42):50441-50450. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c16085. Epub 2021 Oct 12.

Authors

Jia Wang¹, Yinghui Xu¹, Hongqiang Qu¹, Haiyun Ma¹, Ran Chang¹, Jing Ma¹

Affiliation

¹ College of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China.

PMID: 34636540
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c16085

Abstract

Delicately regulating the distribution morphology of a filler is an effective strategy to promote the separation performance of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). Herein, we describe a highly permeable metal-organic framework (MOF)-based MMM comprising vertically aligned ZIF-8 (V-ZIF-8) and polysulfone (PSF). The V-ZIF-8 is distributed uniformly within the PSF matrix. With this unique distribution morphology of ZIF-8, the shortest gas transport pathways are formed in the membrane. Meanwhile, the molecular-sieving pores of ZIF-8 can allow CO₂ to pass through and crowding out N₂. The obtained V-ZIF-8/PSF membrane shows a high CO₂ permeability of 89.7 Barrer and a CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 30.0 that is stable over a period of 50 h. The CO₂ permeability is enhanced about 11.8 times than that of the pure PSF membrane. The results prove that the vertically aligned distribution morphology of an MOF in a polymer matrix is an effective method to improve the separation performance of a membrane, providing a new concept for designing more advanced membranes.

Keywords: CO2 separation; ZIF-8; distribution morphology; metal−organic framework; mixed matrix membrane; vertical aligned pathway.