Solid-Vapor Interface Engineered Covalent Organic Framework Membranes for Molecular Separation

Abstract

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with intrinsic, tunable, and uniform pores are potent building blocks for separation membranes, yet poor processing ability and long processing time remain grand challenges. Herein, we report an engineered solid-vapor interface to fabricate a highly crystalline two-dimensional COF membrane with a thickness of 120 nm in 9 h, which is 8 times faster than that in the reported literature. Due to the ultrathin nature and ordered pores, the membrane exhibited an ultrahigh permeance (water, ∼411 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 and acetonitrile, ∼583 L m-2 h-1 bar-1) and excellent rejection of dye molecules larger than 1.4 nm (>98%). The membrane exhibited long-term operation which confirmed its outstanding stability. Our solid-vapor interfacial polymerization method may evolve into a generic platform to fabricate COFs and other organic framework membranes.