Electrospun fibrous mats as skeletons to produce free-standing MOF membranes

Seeded growth of ZIF-8 on the surface of carbon nanotubes towards self-supporting gas separation membranes

“…3)), narrow micro-pore size distribution (around 3.4Å for ZIF-8 (ref. 7,12 Although the use of dense substrates, such as gold surfaces, silicon wafers, graphite, polymers or sapphire and their surface functionalization with specic functional groups were successful routes for generating thin MOF lms, 7,13-15 promising trials with porous substrates have been largely limited to rigid, low porosity supports such as alumina or polymeric non-woven materials. In fact, due to the presence of water vapour in most industrial processes, the development of robust and stable materials, such as waterresistant MOFs, are highly sought for gas separation, storage and carbon capture.…”

“…4)), and highly versatile surface chemistry. 12,16 The growth of MOFs within a porous structure, as opposed to their incorporation into mixed matrix membranes, 2 was demonstrated to lead to the fabrication of membrane materials possessing enhanced mechanical stability and higher performance. 5,6 The mechanisms ruling MOFs growth lead to the formation of macro-monoliths whose size may reach tens to hundreds of micrometres.…”

“…5,6 The mechanisms ruling MOFs growth lead to the formation of macro-monoliths whose size may reach tens to hundreds of micrometres. 12,17 This is primarily related to the difficult control of the MOF initial growth steps, which corresponds to the adsorption of the metal ions, and to MOF crystal interconnection and reticulation, progressively embedding the supporting substrate. [8][9][10][11] Strategies to produce supported MOF thin lms and membranes face key engineering challenges, including the control and optimization of the interface between the scaffold and the MOF crystals, as well as the homogeneous control of the growth mechanisms in conned spaces to fully benet from the unique MOF properties.…”

“…2,7 Recent efforts have focused on tailoring growth seeding and conditions to interconnect the monoliths and create denser and defect free crystal networks that can be used as self-supporting lms. Electro-spun webs 12 were recently successfully used for this purpose, but the large size of the pores and the low porosity of the structures remained limitations to the processing of highly interconnected and free-standing MOF hybrid structures. 7,12 Although the use of dense substrates, such as gold surfaces, silicon wafers, graphite, polymers or sapphire and their surface functionalization with specic functional groups were successful routes for generating thin MOF lms, 7,13-15 promising trials with porous substrates have been largely limited to rigid, low porosity supports such as alumina or polymeric non-woven materials.…”

Synthesis and Electrospraying of Nanoscale MOF (Metal Organic Framework) for High-Performance CO2 Adsorption Membrane

“…Free-standing MOF membrane can be produced on electrospun fibrous mats for gas adsorption purpose. Different types of MOF crystals such as HKUST-1, ZIF-8, and MIL-101 have been used to fabricate the membrane [25]. However, most MOF particles were seen encapsulated in the fibers, thus made it inefficient for CO 2 adsorption.…”