Yang Z, Belmabkhout Y, McHugh LN, Ao D, Sun Y, Li S, Qiao Z, Bennett TD, Guiver MD, Zhong C. ZIF-62 glass foam self-supported membranes to address CH
4/N
2 separations.
NATURE MATERIALS 2023:10.1038/s41563-023-01545-w. [PMID:
37169976 DOI:
10.1038/s41563-023-01545-w]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Membranes with ultrahigh permeance and practical selectivity could greatly decrease the cost of difficult industrial gas separations, such as CH4/N2 separation. Advanced membranes made from porous materials, such as metal-organic frameworks, can achieve a good gas separation performance, although they are typically formed on support layers or mixed with polymeric matrices, placing limitations on gas permeance. Here an amorphous glass foam, agfZIF-62, wherein a, g and f denote amorphous, glass and foam, respectively, was synthesized by a polymer-thermal-decomposition-assisted melting strategy, starting from a crystalline zeolitic imidazolate framework, ZIF-62. The thermal decomposition of incorporated low-molecular-weight polyethyleneimine evolves CO2, NH3 and H2O gases, creating a large number and variety of pores. This greatly increases pore interconnectivity but maintains the crystalline ZIF-62 ultramicropores, allowing ultrahigh gas permeance and good selectivity. A self-supported circular agfZIF-62 with a thickness of 200-330 µm and area of 8.55 cm2 was used for membrane separation. The membranes perform well, showing a CH4 permeance of 30,000-50,000 gas permeance units, approximately two orders of magnitude higher than that of other reported membranes, with good CH4/N2 selectivity (4-6).
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