Porous composite membrane based on organic substrate for molecular sieving: Current status, opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Membrane materials with excellent selectivity and high permeability are the key for high-efficiency membrane separation. New-type porous materials have developed as ideal building blocks for molecular sieving membranes due to their inherent properties, such as permanent porosity, high surface area, structural diversity and low mass transfer barriers. In actual industrial promotion and separation applications, porous materials need to be combined with substrates to prepare porous composite membranes. In order to reduce costs and increase processing flexibility, the combination of organic polymer substrates and porous materials has received more attentions. The multifunctional design strategy of the membrane material and membrane structure of porous composite membranes based on the organic subatrates is the key to realize the further improvement of mass transfer. In this review, we focus on the organic matrix porous composite membrane based on the participation of inorganic-organic hybrid materials and organic-organic composite materials, and conduct an in-depth discussion on the transport mechanism of porous composite membranes, and highlight diverse structural control strategies from the perspectives of macrostructural design and microstructural regulation of membrane structures. Finally, the applications of porous composite membrane based on organic substrate in precise molecular sieving are summarized, and the future opportunities and challenges in this field are discussed briefly.

Keywords

• Porous composite membrane
• Organic substrate
• Macrostructure design
• Microstructure regulation
• Molecular sieving