Ultrapermeable 2D-channeled graphene-wrapped zeolite molecular sieving membranes for hydrogen separation

Radovan Kukobat; Motomu Sakai; Hideki Tanaka; Hayato Otsuka; Fernando Vallejos-Burgos; Christian Lastoskie; Masahiko Matsukata; Yukichi Sasaki; Kaname Yoshida; Takuya Hayashi; Katsumi Kaneko

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abl3521

Ultrapermeable 2D-channeled graphene-wrapped zeolite molecular sieving membranes for hydrogen separation

Sci Adv. 2022 May 20;8(20):eabl3521. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abl3521. Epub 2022 May 18.

Authors

Radovan Kukobat^{1

2}, Motomu Sakai³, Hideki Tanaka¹, Hayato Otsuka¹, Fernando Vallejos-Burgos^{1

4}, Christian Lastoskie⁵, Masahiko Matsukata^{3

6

7}, Yukichi Sasaki⁸, Kaname Yoshida⁸, Takuya Hayashi⁹, Katsumi Kaneko¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Initiative for Supra-Materials, Shinshu University, 4-17-1 Wakasato, Nagano 380-8553, Japan.
² Center for Biomedical Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka, Save Mrkalja 14, Banja Luka 78000, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
³ Research Organization for Nano and Life Innovation, Waseda University, 513 Waseda-Tsurumaki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0041, Japan.
⁴ Morgan Advanced Materials, Carbon Science Centre of Excellence, 310 Innovation Blvd., Suite 250, State College, PA 16803, USA.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, 1351 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125, USA.
⁶ Department of Applied Chemistry, Waseda University, 513 Wasedatsurumaki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0041, Japan.
⁷ Advanced Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 513 Wasedatsurumaki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0041, Japan.
⁸ Nanostructures Research Laboratory, Japan Fine Ceramics Center, 2-4-1 Mutsuno, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya 456-8587, Japan.
⁹ Department of Water Environment and Civil Engineering, Shinshu University, 4-17-1 Wakasato, Nagano 380-8553, Japan.

Abstract

The efficient separation of hydrogen from methane and light hydrocarbons for clean energy applications remains a technical challenge in membrane science. To address this issue, we prepared a graphene-wrapped MFI (G-MFI) molecular-sieving membrane for the ultrafast separation of hydrogen from methane at a permeability reaching 5.8 × 10⁶ barrers at a single gas selectivity of 245 and a mixed gas selectivity of 50. Our results set an upper bound for hydrogen separation. Efficient molecular sieving comes from the subnanoscale interfacial space between graphene and zeolite crystal faces according to molecular dynamic simulations. The hierarchical pore structure of the G-MFI membrane enabled rapid permeability, indicating a promising route for the ultrafast separation of hydrogen/methane and carbon dioxide/methane in view of energy-efficient industrial gas separation.