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Separation using self-assembled materials

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Abstract

One of the leading challenges in chemical sciences is the separation of complex mixtures. This is of vital importance for areas such as commodity chemical generation, where there is a need for the generation of high-purity chemical streams. Due to this, there has been a strong push toward the investigation of new materials capable of achieving chemoselective separation, with self-assembled materials having shown a great deal of promise for such separations. Many self-assembled materials are desirable candidates due to their low-cost synthesis, structural self-regulation, tunable properties, and an overall ease of composite material preparation. In this article, we aim to introduce examples of novel self-assembled materials and their practical usage in chemical separations. The specific approaches to fabricate these materials, as well as the strengths and shortcomings associated with their structures, will also be described. The strategies presented here will emphasize the production and employment of nonconventional self-assembled materials that exhibit a high potential for the advancement of the science of chemical separations.

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Acknowledgments

The support of the US Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory through NETL-Penn State University Coalition for Fossil Energy Research (UCFER, Contract No. DE-FE0026825) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, USA

    Fan Chen, Gregory S. Day & Hong-Cai Zhou

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  1. Fan Chen
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  2. Gregory S. Day
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  3. Hong-Cai Zhou
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Correspondence to Fan Chen.

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Fan Chen is a graduate student researcher at Texas A&M University. She received her BSc degree in chemistry from the Beijing Institute of Technology, China, in 2018. Her research includes the fabrication of metal–organic framework-based devices for pollutant filtration. Her current research focuses on the manufacture of porous polymer network-based mixed-matrix membranes for CO2/N2 separation and hollow fibers for direct carbon capture from air. Chen can be reached by email at fanchen2018@tamu.edu.

Gregory S. Day is a graduate student researcher in the Department of Chemistry at Texas A&M University. He received his BA and MS degrees in chemistry from Brandeis University in 2010. He was a research technician in the chemical industry. His current research focuses on the structure and property relationships of amorphous porous materials. Day can be reached by email at grsday@tamu.edu.

Hong-Cai Joe Zhou has been a full professor since 2008, a Davidson Professor of Science since 2014, and a Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry since 2015 at Texas A&M University. He obtained his PhD degree in inorganic chemistry and metal–organic frameworks in 2000 from Texas A&M University. He completed postdoctoral research at Harvard University, joined the faculty of Miami University, Oxford, in 2002, and was awarded tenure in 2007. His research focuses on the discovery of synthetic methods to obtain robust framework materials with unique catalytic activities or desirable properties for clean-energy-related applications such as gas storage and catalysis. Zhou can be reached by email at zhouh@tamu.edu.

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Chen, F., Day, G.S. & Zhou, HC. Separation using self-assembled materials. MRS Bulletin 45, 823–831 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2020.246

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