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Roll-to-roll fabrication of large-area metal–organic framework-based membranes for high-performance aqueous separations

Nature Water volume 2, pages 183–192 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metal–organic framework (MOF) membranes have emerged as promising candidates for efficient water purification. However, challenges related to limited spatio-temporal control over metal–ligand interactions and inherent film fragility hinder the scale-up and widespread adoption of MOF-based membranes. Here we report a nanoreactor-confined crystallization strategy that enables rapid and roll-to-roll fabrication of high-performance ultra-thin (∼25 nm) MOF hybrid membranes (0.33 m × 35 m) at mild conditions. This strategy leverages metal-chelated polydopamine nanoparticles as reactors to grow membranes with hierarchical polymer–MOF interconnected structures that promote remarkable stability against chlorine and varying pH levels, precise solute–solute selectivity and high water permeance. The robustness of the resulting membranes facilitates their assembly into spiral-wound membrane modules (0.4 m2) showing excellent and stable (>30-day testing) separation performance in relevant solute–solute separations such as the purification of pharmaceuticals and dye desalination. The nanoreactor-confined crystallization strategy is compatible with a diverse range of MOFs, paving the way for the scalable manufacturing and applications of their membranes.

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Fig. 1: Fabrication and characterizations of ZIF-8-PDPM.
Fig. 2: Mechanism for the ZIF-8-PDPM formation.
Fig. 3: Separation performance of ZIF-8-PDPM.
Fig. 4: Scalable fabrication of ZIF-8-PDPM and modules.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for financial support of the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFB3805103), National Natural Science Foundation of China (numbers 21975221, 22125801, 21908198, 22178139, 21776252). We are grateful for the help of W. Kuang (Beijing Origin Water Membrane Technology Co.) and B. Xia in the preparation of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Membrane and Water Science and Technology, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China

    Yan-Li Ji, Bing-Xin Gu, Hui-Qian Huo, Shi-Jie Xie & Cong-Jie Gao

  2. Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Bing-Xin Gu, Huawen Peng, Bijin Xiong & Qiang Zhao

  3. Beijing Key Laboratory for Green Catalysis and Separation, Department of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

    Wen-Hai Zhang, Ming-Jie Yin & Quan-Fu An

  4. Hunan Ovay Technology Co. Ltd., Zhuzhou, China

    Hongwei Lu

  5. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Luis Francisco Villalobos & Menachem Elimelech

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  1. Yan-Li Ji
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Contributions

Y.-L.J., Q.Z., M.E. and Q.-F.A. conceived the project. Y.-L.J., B.-X.G., H.-Q.H., H.P., W.-H.Z., M.-J.Y., B.X., H.L., L.F.V. and C.-J.G. performed experiments and analysis. S.-J.X. performed density functional theory simulation. All the authors discussed the results and wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qiang Zhao, Menachem Elimelech or Quan-Fu An.

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Nature Water thanks Dan Zhao and the other, anonymous, reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary information

Materials and Methods, Text, Figs. 1–59, Tables 1–3 and References.

Supplementary Video 1

Preparation of the ZIF-8-PDPM (1.0 m × 1.5 m).

Supplementary Video 2

Scale-up of ZIF-8-PDPM and module fabrication.

Supplementary Video 3

ZIF-8-PDPM module-separation performance test.

Supplementary Video 4

Automatic preparation of ZIF-8-PDPM module.

Supplementary Data 1

Source data for Supplementary Fig. 37.

Supplementary Data 2

Source data for Supplementary Fig 42.

Supplementary Data 3

Source data for Supplementary Fig. 43.

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Ji, YL., Gu, BX., Huo, HQ. et al. Roll-to-roll fabrication of large-area metal–organic framework-based membranes for high-performance aqueous separations. Nat Water 2, 183–192 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00184-4

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