Metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes show immense promise for energy-efficient gas separations, yet their intrinsic brittleness has precluded their processing into practical membrane modules. Here, we report a symmetry-mismatch strategy that transforms brittle crystalline MOFs into amorphous membranes possessing an extraordinary combination of polymer-like flexibility and crystal-like ultra-microporosity. This is enabled by electrified co-assembly of two structurally related MOFs with identical metal nodes and connectivity yet distinct linkers and space groups. We demonstrate the incompatible crystal symmetries disrupt long-range periodicity while using preformed subunits for the assembly could preserve local structural order. The resulting membranes demonstrate remarkable mechanical properties, with a flexural modulus of 234 MPa and a curvature of 1000 m-1, alongside impressive gas separation performance. This work establishes a design principle for engineering mechanically resilient, high-performance amorphous materials, overcoming a critical barrier to the real-world application of advanced MOF membrane.
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) unlock opportunities to unite rapid mass transport with molecular-level sieving through membranes. However, achieving long-range crystallographic order within these membranes remains a central challenge that limits their separation precision. Here, we report a monomer-driven strategy...
Bridging atomically precise materials design with scalable membrane manufacturing remains a central challenge in separation science. Two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (2D COFs) offer tunable porosity and chemistry, but poor crystallinity and processability have limited their performance in membranes. Here we...
Jasasmita Das, Yun Kyung Shin, Beatrice Bartolomei et al.· Journal of the American Chem...· 0 citations
Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) promise high safety for next-generation energy storage, but practical applications are bottlenecked by the coupling of ion transport with sluggish polymer segmental dynamics. Herein, polymers are co-crystallized with sub-nm anionic metal oxide clusters (MOCs) using Li+ counterions, ach...
Wei-Gang Sun, Z. Zheng, Lu Liu et al.· Small· 0 citations
Two-dimensional (2D) network-structured materials, encompassing 2D polymers and covalent organic frameworks, have captivated researchers with their highly ordered, porous architectures that promote efficient mass transport and versatile functionalities across diverse applications. However, fabricating crystalline 2D ne...
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with crystallographically defined pores and chemically programmable internal structures are attractive candidates for regulating ion transport at the molecular scale. Yet, it is still difficult to grow MOF-on-MOF structures as continuous thin membranes because the secondary phase usual...
Organic electrosynthesis offers a sustainable future for chemical manufacturing but is severely hindered by the instability of commercial polymer ion-exchange membranes in organic electrolytes. The excessive swelling of flexible polymer networks, such as Nafion, often results in massive reactant crossover and diminishe...
Qianqing Wang, Shangping Wang, S. Liu et al.· Advances in Materials· 0 citations
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