Microporous polymer adsorptive membranes with high processing capacity for molecular separation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35853846.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-31575-y and PMC identifier 9296620.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Trade-off between permeability and nanometer-level selectivity is an inherent shortcoming of membrane-based separation of molecules, while most highly porous materials with high adsorption capacity lack solution processability and stability for achieving adsorption-based molecule separation. We hereby report a hydrophilic amidoxime modified polymer of intrinsic microporosity (AOPIM-1) as a membrane adsorption material to selectively adsorb and separate small organic molecules from water with ultrahigh processing capacity. The membrane adsorption capacity for Rhodamine B reaches 26.114 g m<sup>-2</sup>, 10-1000 times higher than previously reported adsorptive membranes. Meanwhile, the membrane achieves >99.9% removal of various nano-sized organic molecules with water flux 2 orders of magnitude higher than typical pressure-driven membranes of similar rejections. This work confirms the feasibility of microporous polymers for membrane adsorption with high capacity, and provides the possibility of adsorptive membranes for molecular separation.