Metal-Organic Frameworks Corset with a Thermosetting Polymer for Improved Molecular-Sieving Property of Mixed-Matrix Membranes

Sheng Yang; Yuhan Wang; Peng Lu; Hua Jin; Fusheng Pan; Zixing Shi; Xue-Song Jiang; Chen Chen; Zhongyi Jiang; Yanshuo Li

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c17426

Metal-Organic Frameworks Corset with a Thermosetting Polymer for Improved Molecular-Sieving Property of Mixed-Matrix Membranes

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Dec 9;12(49):55308-55315. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c17426. Epub 2020 Nov 26.

Authors

Sheng Yang^{1

2}, Yuhan Wang^{1

2

3}, Peng Lu^{1

2}, Hua Jin^{1

2}, Fusheng Pan³, Zixing Shi⁴, Xue-Song Jiang⁴, Chen Chen^{1

2}, Zhongyi Jiang³, Yanshuo Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, P. R. China.
² State Key Laboratory Base of Novel Functional Materials and Preparation Science, School of Materials Science & Chemical Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, P. R. China.
³ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, P. R. China.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, P. R. China.

PMID: 33241690
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c17426

Abstract

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for gas separation membranes. However, the framework flexibility affects their molecular-sieving properties. Herein, we restrict the flexibility of zeolitic imidazolate framework-7 (ZIF-7) by controlling its phase transition in mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs), relying on the so-called "space-confinement effect" of a novel thermosetting polymer, poly 2,2'-(p-oxydiphenyl)-5,5'-bibenzimidazole (OPBI) polymer. Compared with the pure OPBI membrane, the optimized membranes containing 30 wt % ZIF-7 with a narrow-pore (np) phase (ZIF-7-II) exhibited a significant improvement in H₂/CO₂ separation, e.g., the H₂/CO₂ ideal selectivity increased ∼2.8 times, surpassing the state-of-the-art upper bound of polymeric membranes and exhibited excellent stability at increased pressure and temperature (8 bar, 180 °C).

Keywords: OPBI polymer; hydrogen purification; metal−organic frameworks; mixed-matrix membranes; space-confinement.