Polymer-MOF Hybrid Materials in Future Separation, Flame Retardancy and Sustainable Packaging

Polymeric materials offer advantages such as low density, facile processing, and low cost, yet they still face key bottlenecks in advanced applications—e.g., the permeability-selectivity trade-off in membrane separations, the loss of mechanical performance caused by high flameretardant loadings, and insufficient room-temperature ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability in solid polymer electrolytes. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), featuring high surface area, tunable pore structures, and tailorable functional sites, provide an effective route to introduce molecular-sieving channels, adsorption/catalytic activity, and char- forming/smoke-suppressing effects into polymer matrices. This review summarizes the classifications and fabrication strategies of polymer/MOF composites (physical blending, covalent linking, in-situ growth, core-shell architectures, etc.), clarifies the synergistic—and potentially adverse— structure-property relationships, and highlights progress in separation, flame retardancy, and sustainable packaging. Remaining challenges are discussed, including interfacial characterization, pore blockage, scalable manufacturing, and environmental/health risk assessment.