Nanoscale MOF/organosilica membranes on tubular ceramic substrates for highly selective gas separation

Abstract

In this study, we present a general and efficient strategy to design and prepare novel MOF-based hybrid membranes on a tubular ceramic substrate. Thin and compact MOF/organosilica nano-composite membranes can be rationally formed and tightly bound with the tubular ceramic substrate. The resulting membranes display high gas separation performance with both high selectivity and high permeation rate, which can be well correlated to the parent MOFs. The as-prepared ZIF-8 and MIL-53-NH₂ incorporated organosilica nanocomposite membranes have been demonstrated as some of the best performing MOF-based membranes for highly H₂- (H₂/CH₄ selectivity = 26.5, H₂ permeance = 1.06 × 10⁻⁶ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹) and CO₂-selective (CO₂/CH₄ selectively = 18.2, CO₂ permeance = 1.44 × 10⁻⁷ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹) separations, for H₂/CH₄ (1 : 1) and CO₂/CH₄ (1 : 1) mixtures at room temperature, respectively.