A Short Review of Advances in MOF Glass Membranes for Gas Adsorption and Separation

Abstract

The phenomenon of melting in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has recently garnered attention. Crystalline MOF materials can be transformed into an amorphous glassy state through melt-quenching treatment. The resulting MOF glass structure eliminates grain boundaries and retains short-range order while exhibiting long-range disorder. Based on these properties, it emerges as a promising candidate for high-performance separation membranes. MOF glass membranes exhibit permanent and accessible porosity, allowing for selective adsorption of different gas species. This review summarizes the melting mechanism of MOFs and explores the impact of ligands and metal ions on glassy MOFs. Additionally, it presents an analysis of the diverse classes of MOF glass composites, outlining their structures and properties, which are conducive to gas adsorption and separation. The absence of inter-crystalline defects in the structures, coupled with their distinctive mechanical properties, renders them highly promising for industrial gas separation applications. Furthermore, this review provides a summary of recent research on MOF glass composite membranes for gas adsorption and separation. It also addresses the challenges associated with membrane production and suggests future research directions.

Keywords

• metal–organic frameworks
• MOF glass membrane
• melt-quenching
• gas separation