Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2022, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (2): 364-372.doi: 10.1007/s40242-022-1507-1

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Pore Engineering for Covalent Organic Framework Membranes

YAO Jin1,2, LU Ya1,3, SUN Huihui1, ZHAO Xin1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Self-assembly Chemistry for Organic Functional Molecules, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, P. R. China;
    2. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, P. R. China;
    3. College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, P. R. China
  • Received:2021-12-27 Revised:2022-02-16 Online:2022-04-01 Published:2022-05-18
  • Contact: ZHAO Xin E-mail:xzhao@sioc.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.22101063) and the Shanghai Scientific and Technological Innovation Project, China(No.19XD1404900).

Abstract: Membrane technology is of particular significance for the sustainable development of society owing to its potential capacity to tackle the energy shortage and environmental pollution. Membrane materials are the core part of membrane technology. Researchers have always been pursuing predictable structures of advanced membrane materials, which provides a possibility to fully unlock the potential of membranes. Covalent organic frameworks(COFs), with the advantage of controllable pore microenvironment, are considered to be promising candidates to achieve this design concept. The customizable function of COF membranes through pore engineering does well in the enhancement of selective permeability performance, which offers COF membranes with great application potentials in separation and transportation fields. In this context, COF-based membranes have been developed rapidly in recent years. Herein, we present a brief overview on the strategies developed for pore engineering of COF membranes in recent years, including skeleton engineering, pore surface engineering, host-guest chemistry and membrane fabrication. Moreover, the features of transmission or separation of molecules/ions based on COF membranes and corresponding applications are also introduced. In the last part, the challenges and prospects of the development of COF membranes are discussed.

Key words: Membrane technology, Covalent organic framework (COF), Pore engineering, Separation, Ion transportation