Assembling covalent organic framework membranes via phase switching for ultrafast molecular transport

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30647-3
• Publication Date: 2022-06-07T10:05:32Z
• Authors: Niaz Ali Khan; Runnan Zhang; Xiaoyao Wang; Li Cao; Chandra S. Azad; Chunyang Fan; Jinqiu Yuan; Mengying Long; Hong Wu; Mark. A. Olson; Zhongyi Jiang
• Keywords: Permeance

Fabrication of covalent organic framework (COF) membranes for molecular transport has excited highly pragmatic interest as a low energy and cost-effective route separations. However, currently, most COF are assembled via one-step procedure in liquid phase(s) by concurrent polymerization crystallization, which often accompanied loosely packed less ordered structure. Herein, we propose two-step phase switching strategy, decouples the process crystallization to assemble compact crystalline membranes. In pre-assembly step, mixed monomer solution is casted into pristine membrane phase, along with completion process. assembly transformed vapour solvent catalyst, Owing structure, resultant exhibit an unprecedented permeance (water ≈ 403 L m-2 bar-1 h-1 acetonitrile 519 h-1). Our strategy can open up new avenue fabrication advanced microporous