Advanced Porous Materials in Gas Separation Membrane Technologies

The recent decade has witnessed the booming development of advanced porous materials (APMs) such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), porous organic polymers (POPs), and various cage compounds. Unlike their conventional counterparts (e.g., silica, activated carbon, zeolite), APMs have well-ordered structures, uniform yet tunable pore sizes, and versatile chemical compositions suitable for various modifications. Membrane technologies have attracted increased attention recently because of their important applications in clean energy and environmental sustainability. The combination of APMs in membrane technologies would generate innovative solutions and tremendous impacts in gas separation. In this talk, I will introduce our group’s progress in the above area. We have been developing various APM-based membranes, such as mixed matrix membranes, ultrathin 2D membranes, polycrystalline membranes, and thin-film composite membranes, with gas separation applications ranging from H2 purification to CO2 capture.

Speakers

Dan Zhao

Associate Professor