Formation of Ultrathin, Continuous Metal-Organic Framework Membranes on Flexible Polymer Substrates

Abstract

Metal-organic framework (MOF) materials have an enormous potential in separation applications, but to realize their potential as semipermeable membranes they need to be assembled into thin continuous macroscopic films for fabrication into devices. By using a facile immersion technique, we prepared ultrathin, continuous zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) membranes on titania-functionalized porous polymeric supports. The coherent ZIF-8 layer was surprisingly flexible and adhered well to the support, and the composite membrane could sustain bending and elongation. The membranes exhibited molecular sieving behavior, close to the theoretical permeability of ZIF-8, with hydrogen permeance up to 201×10(-7) mol m(-2) s(-1) Pa(-1) and an ideal H2 /CO2 selectivity of 7:1. This approach offers significant opportunities to exploit the unique properties of MOFs in the fabrication of separation and sensing devices.

Keywords: gas separation; hollow fibers; membranes; metal-organic frameworks; molecular sieving.