Amphiphilic Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Assisted Synthesis of Amorphous Coordination Polymer Monolayer on Water Surface for He/CH <sub>4</sub> Separation

2D coordination polymer membranes, characterized by ultrathin thickness and nanoscale porosity, exhibit exceptional selectivity and permeability for molecular separations. While amorphous coordination polymer (aCP) monolayers are particularly attractive for scalable fabrication, as their separation performance is less dependent on crystallinity, aCP monolayers have never been synthesized and their gas separation capabilities have been completely unexplored. Herein, we report an amphiphilic polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) assisted interfacial assembly strategy to fabricate nanometer thick aCP monolayer. An amphiphilic hexa(terpyridine)hexaphenylbenzene (HTPHPB) monolayer is first formed at the air/water interface, which adsorbed pyrazine and coordinated with Co<sup>2</sup>⁺ to generate an active layer, subsequently inducing the interfacial co-assembly of water-soluble pyrazine and tetracyanonickelate into continuous aCP films with a thickness of 2.2 nm. Remarkably, the six layer stacking aCP membranes exhibit unprecedented He/CH<sub>4</sub> separation performance with a He permeance of 136.6 GPU and a He/CH<sub>4</sub> separation factor of 110, representing a nearly threefold improvement in separation factor over the best-performing MOF materials reported to date. Furthermore, the membrane maintains its separation efficiency without significant performance loss under 50 times bending, demonstrating excellent structure stability. This work not only establishes a facile strategy for synthesizing aCP monolayers but also opens new avenues for designing high-performance gas separation membranes.

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Journal
Small
Published
2025-12-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202511851
Primary Topic
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Amphiphilic Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Assisted Synthesis of Amorphous Coordination Polymer Monolayer on Water Surface for He/CH 4 Separation

Meng He, Xue Liu, Xin Zhu, Yehui Ding et al.
Small
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
article

Amphiphilic Polyaromatic Hydrocarbon Assisted Synthesis of Amorphous Coordination Polymer Monolayer on Water Surface for He/CH 4 Separation

Meng He, Xue Liu, Xin Zhu, Yehui Ding, Yuxing Luo, W. J. Shi, Xiangdong Ding
article en

Abstract

2D coordination polymer membranes, characterized by ultrathin thickness and nanoscale porosity, exhibit exceptional selectivity and permeability for molecular separations. While amorphous coordination polymer (aCP) monolayers are particularly attractive for scalable fabrication, as their separation performance is less dependent on crystallinity, aCP monolayers have never been synthesized and their gas separation capabilities have been completely unexplored. Herein, we report an amphiphilic polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) assisted interfacial assembly strategy to fabricate nanometer thick aCP monolayer. An amphiphilic hexa(terpyridine)hexaphenylbenzene (HTPHPB) monolayer is first formed at the air/water interface, which adsorbed pyrazine and coordinated with Co<sup>2</sup>⁺ to generate an active layer, subsequently inducing the interfacial co-assembly of water-soluble pyrazine and tetracyanonickelate into continuous aCP films with a thickness of 2.2 nm. Remarkably, the six layer stacking aCP membranes exhibit unprecedented He/CH<sub>4</sub> separation performance with a He permeance of 136.6 GPU and a He/CH<sub>4</sub> separation factor of 110, representing a nearly threefold improvement in separation factor over the best-performing MOF materials reported to date. Furthermore, the membrane maintains its separation efficiency without significant performance loss under 50 times bending, demonstrating excellent structure stability. This work not only establishes a facile strategy for synthesizing aCP monolayers but also opens new avenues for designing high-performance gas separation membranes.

SmallVol. 22(9)
Xi'an Shiyou University (CN), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN), Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Clean water and sanitation
Openalex Percentile: Top 49%
Covalent Organic Framework Applications
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