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Research Progress in the Fabrication of Covalent Organic Framework Membranes for Chemical Separations

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Abstract

Membrane technology has become one of the most promising separation technologies for its energy saving, high separation efficiency, environmental friendliness, and economic feasibility. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with intrinsically high porosity, controllable pore size, uniform pore size distribution and long-range ordered channel structure, have emerged as next-generation materials to fabricate advanced separation membranes. This feature article summarizes some latest studies in the development of pure COF membranes in our lab, including their fabrication and applications in chemical separations. Finally, current challenges facing high-performance COF separation membranes are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22378300 and 21878215), National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFB3805202), Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province (No. 2021C03173), Ningbo Key Research and Development Project (No. 2022Z121), and Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (No. BP0618007). We also thank the Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations for financial support.

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Correspondence to Hong Wu.

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Hong Wu received her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University in 2000. She is a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University. Her research interests mainly focus on the development of advanced membrane materials and their applications in the fields of separation and energy conversion.

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Ding, CT., Yuan, JQ., Xie, MY. et al. Research Progress in the Fabrication of Covalent Organic Framework Membranes for Chemical Separations. Chin J Polym Sci 42, 141–158 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-023-3061-9

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