Two-dimensional material-based membranes for gas separation: current status and future direction

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) material-based membranes are attracting increasing attention since they hold many merits, such as rich exposed interaction sites and ultrathin-film-forming ability, which are distinct from their bulk counterparts. Their gas separation applications have been preliminarily explored in the past decades. However, some challenges still exist, such as maintaining high separation performance when transferring from lab conditions to industrially relevant conditions. In this context, we summarized the development of 2D-material-based membranes reported in the past years, analyzed their advantages and shortages, and gave our perspectives for future development. Tremendous efforts should be put into developing large-area, robust membranes in module devices with stable performance under practical operating conditions. In addition, the test conditions are related to membrane separation performance and stability, and it is recommended to standardize the test conditions to collect and compare the results of numerous studies more fairly.