Fusheng Pan

Tianjin University | tju · School of Chemical Engineering and Technology

Fabricating covalent organic framework (COF) membranes through the pre‐assembly of nanosheets with different properties may open a novel avenue to the fabrication of advanced 2D membranes. Herein, COF membranes are fabricated using oppositely‐charged COF nanosheets (CONs). Negatively‐charged CONs and positively‐charged CONs are pre‐assembled throug...

Synthesis of covalent organic framework nanosheets (CONs) with high aspect ratio is crucial to their assembly into advanced membranes. Nonetheless, the π‐π stacking between covalent organic framework (COF) layers often leads to thick CONs. Herein, inspired by biomineralization process, a series of aspect ratio CONs >15 000 is synthesized by multifu...

Covalent organic framework (COF) materials have been considered as disruptive membrane materials for gas separation. The dominant one-step method for COF nanosheet synthesis often suffers from coupling among polymerization, assembly and crystallization processes. Herein, we propose a two-step method comprising a framework assembly step and function...

With the pursuit of high‐energy‐density for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), the hidden safety problems of batteries have gradually emerged. LiNixCoyMn1−x−yO2 (NCM) is considered as an ideal cathode material to meet the urgent needs of high‐energy‐density batteries. However, the oxygen precipitation reaction of NCM cathode at high temperature brings s...

Ultrathin covalent organic framework (COF) membranes are urgently demanded in molecular/ionic separations. Herein, we reported an electrochemical interfacial polymerization strategy to fabricate ultrathin COF membranes with thickness of 85 nm, by actively manipulate self‐healing effect and self‐inhibiting effect. The resulting COF membrane exhibite...

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) have emerged as a new class of crystalline porous materials, and their application in membrane technology needs to be explored. Herein, for the first time, we demonstrated the utilization of HOF-based mixed-matrix membrane for CO2 separation. HOF-21, a unique metallo-hydrogen-bonded organic framework materi...

Ultrathin covalent organic framework (COF) membranes are urgently demanded in molecular/ionic separations. Herein, we reported an electrochemical interfacial polymerization strategy to fabricate ultrathin COF membranes with thickness of 85 nm, by actively manipulate self‐healing effect and self‐inhibiting effect. The resulting COF membrane exhibite...

Local Electric Field In article number 2208514, Jie Sun and co‐workers report the development of a local electric field by constructing ionic covalent organic frameworks to comprehensively solve the problems of the phosphorus anode. These multifunctional facets are mainly embodied in inhibiting the dissolution of intermediates, promoting the reacti...

Covalent organic frameworks (COF), with rigid, highly ordered and tunable structures, can actively manipulate the synergy of entropic selectivity and enthalpic selectivity, holding great potential as next-generation membrane materials for ion separations. Here, we demonstrated the efficient separation of monovalent cations by COF membrane. The chan...

Aqueous two-phase system features with ultralow interfacial tension and thick interfacial region, affording unique confined space for membrane assembly. Here, for the first time, an aqueous two-phase interfacial assembly method is proposed to fabricate covalent organic framework (COF) membranes. The aqueous solution containing polyethylene glycol a...

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes feature ordered structures and low mass transfer resistance, but suffer from the mutable channel size induced by the intercalation of guest molecules. Herein, inspired by the fish-scale, the flexible GO nanosheets and rigid boron nitride (BN) nanosheets were co-assembled and cross-linked with edge groups, mimicking the...

Membranes with dense water capture layer and porous support layer hold great promise for achieving high flux in pervaporation desalination. Such membranes are usually fabricated by two-step methods, which often suffer from poor interfacial compatibility and membrane pore blockage. Herein, we fabricated a hetero-structured membrane with a dense wate...

Molecular sieving membranes from metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising candidates for separating olefin/paraffin mixture, a critical demand in sustainable chemical processes and a grand challenge in molecular separations. Currently, the inherent lattice flexibility of MOFs severely compromises their precise sieving ability. Here, we demonst...

Ionic conduction plays a critical role in the process of electrode reactions and the charge transfer kinetics in a rechargeable battery. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as an exciting new class of ionic conductors, and have made great progress in terms of their application in rechargeable batteries. The unique features of COFs, such...

Hydrogen peroxide, as a green oxidant, received broad and increasing applications. Membrane technology affords a promising solution to achieve in-situ production and concentration of hydrogen peroxide. Membrane material selection and structure design remain a grand challenge arising from the strong oxidation property of hydrogen peroxide. Herein, w...

Hybrid membranes with 2D vertical continuous channels are expected to achieve high separation performance, but remain unexplored. In this study, 2D vertical continuous channels from layered double hydroxide (LDH) array were constructed in hybrid membranes for pervaporation dehydration. Vertically aligned LDH array that anchored onto the polyacrylon...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with well-ordered pore structures and versatile functionalities hold tremendous promise as membrane building blocks. The facile and controllable fabrication of COF membranes remains a critical challenge. Herein, we presented a one-step vapor-liquid interfacial polymerization (VLIP) method to in-situ fabricate COF...

For two-dimensional (2D) lamellar graphene oxide (GO) membranes, tuning the interlayer distance and enhancing surface hydrophilicity are two efficient strategies to achieve high selectivity and permeation flux for solvent dehydration. Herein, Fe³⁺-phytic acid (PA) coordination complex was designed as both the intercalator and surface modifier to fa...

Water-selective membranes are utilized in many fields such as wastewater treatment, desalination, organic solvent dehydration. In this study, dual-layer hybrid membranes were designed and prepared through electrostatic interactions for ethanol dehydration. The polyethyleneimine (PEI) with carboxyl decorated carbon nanotubes (CNT-C) was spin-coated...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have gained tremendous interest as membrane building blocks owing to rigid, long-range ordered and easily functionalized skeletons. The facile, controllable and task-specific construction of COF membranes lies in the frontier of membrane technology. Herein, we explored a post-synthetic linker exchange (PLE) method...

Graphene oxide (GO) laminar membranes with fast water-transport nanochannels hold great promise for water-selective molecular separations, but the water-capture ability of membrane surfaces limits the separation performance. Herein, we engineered water-capture coatings on GO laminar membranes using structurally tunable tannic acid (TA) nanoaggregat...

Ion selective separators with the capability of conducting lithium ion and blocking polysulfides are critical and highly desired for high-performance lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Herein, we fabricate an ion selective film of covalent organic framework (denoted as TpPa-SO3Li) onto the commercial Celgard separator. The aligned nanochannels and co...

Molecular separations that enable selective transport of target molecules from gas and liquid molecular mixtures, such as CO2 capture, olefin/paraffin separations, and organic solvent nanofiltration, represent the most energy sensitive and significant demands. Membranes are favored for molecular separations owing to the advantages of energy efficie...

Two-dimensional (2D) lamellar graphene oxide (GO) membranes represent promising porous materials in alcohol dehydration. The separation performance can be manipulated by the physicochemical properties of interlayer channels. The relatively low flux and poor stability of GO-based membranes in aqueous environment are the major drawbacks. Herein, we i...

Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for gas separation membranes. However, the framework flexibility affects their molecular-sieving properties. Herein, we restrict the flexibility of zeolitic imidazolate framework-7 (ZIF-7) by controlling its phase transition in mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs), relying on the so-called "space-con...

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have exhibited tremendous potential as functional fillers of hybrid membranes. Manipulating the orientation of 2D fillers in hybrid membranes, a decisive factor in determining the separation performance, proves a critical challenge. In this study, hybrid membranes with vertical superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoflakes and s...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with designable architectures and superior stability have afforded intriguing opportunities to develop advanced separation membranes. Currently, COF membranes are rarely used in molecular separations due to their relatively large pore sizes. Herein, we report a vapor-liquid interfacial synthesis approach to in-sit...

FePS3, a classical 2D layered material with transition metal phosphorous trichalcogenides, was investigated as an anode material for Mg ion batteries. We used density functional theory to calculate the Mg storage properties of FePS3, such as Mg adsorption energy, theoretical specific capacity, average voltage, diffusion energy barriers, volume chan...

A layered-nanospaced-confinement strategy was used to prepare tin/carbon nanosheet in the interlayers of layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as a confined space. The Sn nanodots with a small size of ∼3 nm were embedded uniformly in the thin-layer carbon nanosheets. This tin/carbon nanosheet was served as anode materials, which can effectively alleviat...

Mimicking the efficient facilitated transport features of carrier proteins in cytomembranes, constructing facilitated transport pathways in synthetic membranes to achieve the desired performance for task-specific molecules has become attractive. Herein, heterostructured laminates (UGO) were created through in-situ growth of amine-functionalized zir...

The effective strategy of depositing modified layer on separator is widely utilized to suppress polysulfides shuttle in lithium-sulfur batteries, in which the modified layer partly sacrifices the transport of lithium-ion. Thus far, to simultaneously achieve fast lithium-ion transport and polysulfides-blocking remains a hot yet challenging issue. He...

Metal–organic framework (MOF) glasses are promising candidates for membrane fabrication due to their significant porosity, the ease of processing, and most notably, the potential to eliminate the grain boundary that is unavoidable for polycrystalline MOF membranes. Herein, we developed a ZIF‐62 MOF glass membrane and exploited its intrinsic gas‐sep...

Hybrid membranes combining the merits of both polymer matrices and fillers have drawn extensive attention. The rational design of polymer–filler interface in hybrid membranes is vitally important for reducing the occurrence of void defects. Herein, imine-type covalent organic frameworks (COFs) were selected as the fillers due to their totally organ...

Polyamide (PA)-based thin-film composite membranes exhibit enormous potential in water purification, owing to their facile fabrication, decent performance and desirable stability. However, the thick PA active layer with high transport resistance from the conventional interfacial polymerization hampers their applications. The controllable fabricatio...

Two-dimensional (2D) covalent organic nanosheets (CONs) present versatile 2D materials, which hold great promise in mixed matrix membranes. The facile synthesis of CONs for the fabrication of mixed matrix membranes represents the development trend. Herein, mixed matrix membranes with facilitated transport ability were prepared based on self-exfolia...

Metal–organic framework (MOF) glass is a promising candidate for membrane fabrication due to its significant porosity, the ease of processing, and most notably, the potential to eliminate the grain boundary that is unavoidable for polycrystalline MOF membranes. Herein, we developed a kind of ZIF‐62 MOF glass membrane for the first time and exploite...

Correction for ‘Brønsted acid mediated covalent organic framework membranes for efficient molecular separation’ by Hongjian Wang et al. , J. Mater. Chem. A , 2019, 7 , 20317–20324.

The utilization of materials with a hierarchical porous structure as multi-functional additives is highly attractive in the preparation of hybrid membranes. In this study, novel hybrid membranes are designed by embedding hierarchical porous Santa Barbara Amorphous 15 (SBA-15) with a dual-pore architecture (micropores and mesopores) for pervaporatio...

Herein, we propose a new strategy to improve the flux and antifouling properties of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVAL) membranes by blending with macrocyclic supra-amphiphiles (cyclodextrin; CD). The amphiphilic ‘molecular cage’ geometry of CD, consisting of a hydrophobic cavity segment and hydrophilic rim segment, induces spontaneous surface segregatio...

The interlayer distance of stacked graphene oxide (GO) membranes is the decisive factor of achieving high permeability and selectivity. Fixating the size of 2D channel in GO membrane proves a critical challenge for liquid separation. Herein, GO membrane was firstly crosslinked by polyvinylamine (PVAm) to acquire mechanically stable membrane, and PV...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) hold great promise in molecular separation. However, since the aperture size of most COFs is in the range of 0.8-4.9 nm, constructing COFs membranes with smaller aperture size is thus in urgent demand yet remains a grand challenge. In this study, Brønsted acid mediated one-step self-assembly method for the fabrica...

Polymeric dense membranes for separating molecules with similar properties in liquid mixture according to solution-diffusion mechanism are often constrained by tradeoff effect. Integrating facilitated transport mechanism and sieving mechanism into membranes is a preferred approach to address this issue. Herein, amine-functionalized titanium-based m...

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes display fascinating properties in molecular and ionic separations. The interlayer distance between adjacent GO nanosheets determines the separation efficiency. Currently, the interlayer distance is mostly tuned by small molecule or polymer crosslinkers, which often leads to relatively low permeation flux due to the con...

A three-dimensional (3D) strategy for the fabrication of ethylene-vinyl alcohol (EVAL) membranes with a dynamic surface was developed based on sliding supramolecular polymer brushes (SSPB). The SSPB with a 3D hydrophilic structure were introduced into the alkyne-EVAL membrane matrix via an azide-alkyne click coupling reaction. The self-mobile hydro...

Traditional covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are prepared via polymerization based on small molecular monomers. However, the employment of polymers as building blocks to construct COFs has not been reported yet. Herein, we create a new concept of polymer covalent organic frameworks (polyCOFs) formed by linear polymers as structural building block...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) hold great promise in molecular separations owing to their robust, ordered and tunable porous network structures. Currently, the pore size of COFs is usually much larger than most small molecules. Meanwhile, the weak interlamellar interaction between COF nanosheets impedes the preparation of defect-free membranes....

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are emerging as crystalline porous materials for advanced membranes, due to their regular pore structures and high porosity. The fabrication of defect-free ultrathin COFs membranes is still very challenging, since the poor COF-substrate affinity hampers the nucleation of COF crystallites. In this work, a facile di...

A simple and effective strategy to simultaneously enhance the permeability and antifouling properties of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVAL)membrane was developed based on the bioinspired natural cleaner, cilia. Taking clue from the self-cleaning effect of cilia, supramolecular polyrotaxanes (PRs)with sliding and rotating cyclic molecules along linear ch...

Inspired by the efficient facilitated diffusion via carrier proteins in biological membranes, facilitated transport membranes with synthetic carriers are fabricated to enhance the separation performance via carrier-penetrant reversible reactions. Constructing highly ordered channels for facilitated transport process in such membranes is favorable f...

Pervaporation is an energy-efficient membrane technology for separating liquid molecules of similar physical properties, which may compete or combine with distillation separation technology in a number of applications. With the rapid development of new membrane materials, the pervaporation performance was significantly improved. Fundamental underst...

Constructing mass transfer highways in polymer membranes via fillers with hierarchical porous and/or hollow structure is an effective approach to enhance their separation performance. In this study, novel hierarchical porous organosilica nanotubes (HPSiNT) were designed and incorporated into Pebax matrix to fabricate hybrid membranes for organic so...

To synthesize small and evenly distributed fillers in polymer matrix is important to fulfill the advantage of nanocomposite membranes in overcoming the tradeoff effect between permeability and selectivity. In this study, nanocomposite membranes were prepared by synthesizing calcium oxalate (CaOx) nanoparticles in confined space of the layer-by-laye...

Hollow monocrystalline silicalite‐1 (HMS) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized and firstly incorporated into poly(ether‐block‐amide) (Pebax) to prepare hybrid membranes. The uniformly dispersed HMS in Pebax matrix interrupt the crystalline region and optimize the free volume property. The micropores on the HMS shell enhance the selectivity b...

Tailoring the interface between the polymer matrix and filler to probe the structure-performance relationship is one of the critical research issues in hybrid membranes. In this study, metal organic framework (MOF) incorporated hybrid membranes are fabricated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the matrix and Cu(II) loaded UiO-67-bpydc (bpydc refer...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are attractive candidates for membrane separation owing to their well-ordered channels and facilely tailored functionalities. However, the development of COF-based membranes remains in its infancy. To establish novel hierarchical structures in COFs, in this study, a facile template-directed approach is exploited f...

Graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs), which inherit the monolayer of sp² carbon atoms structure and hydrophilic groups as graphene oxide (GO) sheets, but with a quantum lateral size less than 100 nm, may hold great promise in membrane preparation. In this study, a novel nanocomposite membrane by mixing GOQDs with sodium alginate (SA) matrix was prep...

By mimicking the respiratory system in organisms, hybrid membranes with hierarchical pore structures were constructed by covalent organic nanosheets (CONs) and poly(ether sulfone) (PES). Two kinds of amide modified CONs, TpPa-1 and TpBD, with different pore sizes were facilely synthesized by the Schiff base reactions of 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucino...

In this study, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are utilized as carriers to immobilize metal ions in facilitated transport membranes for organic solvent separation for the first time. SNW-1, a kind of COFs with high amount of amino groups, were loaded with Ag⁺ ions and then incorporated into Pebax matrix to prepare hybrid membranes. Under optimal...

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), as an emerging kind of two-dimensional (2D) materials with large hydrophobic surface and superior mechanical property, holds great promise in preparing high-performance hybrid membranes. In this study, MoS2 nanosheets were embedded within sodium alginate (SA) for ethanol/water separation. Morphology, structure, mechanic...

Incorporating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) into polymer to fabricate hybrid membranes is an effective approach of breaking the trade-off between permeability and selectivity. In this study, hollow zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (HZIF-8) nanospheres were prepared and blended into sodium alginate (SA) matrix to fabricate water-selective hybrid m...

Natural materials are often arranged in intricate gradient architectures to implement specific functionalities. Implanting such an exquisite prototype into synthetic membranes remains a grand challenge in real-world applications. In this study, functionally graded membranes are fabricated through surface segregation method using 2D nanoporous COF T...

In this study, sulfonated pitch (SP), composed of hydrophilic sulfonate groups and hydrophobic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, was incorporated into sodium alginate (SA) membranes for ethanol dehydration via pervaporation. The morphologies and structures of the SP and hybrid membranes were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Four...

Synthetic membranes play an increasingly critical role in various energy and environment-related applications such as carbon capture and water purification. Owing to the great promise in solving the permeability/selectivity trade-off and the separation performance/stability trade-off, heterogeneous membranes primarily including mixed matrix membran...

Metal organic framework CuBTC nanoparticles were incorporated into polyether-block-amide (Pebax) to promote the transport of penetrant molecules in the membranes. The CuBTC nanoparticles can form hydrogen-bonds with the Pebax chains, thus interfered with the chain packing and tailored the free volume properties of Pebax. The channels and active met...

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with high hydrolytic stability are highly needed to prepare polymer-MOFs hybrid membranes working in aqueous solution media. In this study, [Eu(BTB)(H2O)2·solvent]n (abbreviated as EuBTB), a kind of lanthanide-based two-dimensional MOFs, was utilized to prepare hybrid membranes for organic solvent dehydration owing t...

Constructing facilitated transport pathways using two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets as building blocks is an emerging approach to achieving highly selective passage of small molecules with similar physical properties. Due to high chemical inertness and low structural defects, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) 2D nanosheets hold great promise in a broad ran...

Although metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with well-defined regular and porous structure have emerged as a family of nanoporous building blocks, the great potential of MOFs as multi-functional fillers for hybrid membranes deserves in-depth exploitation. In this study, bimetallic MOF nanocages, FeIII-HMOF-5, were prepared and incorporated into sodium...

Pervaporation, a green and energy-saving membrane process for liquid molecule mixture separation, has played increasingly critical role among the various membrane technologies. The strong and complex interactions among liquid molecule mixtures put forward severe requirements for membrane materials design and preparation in order to obtain high sepa...

Fabricating ultrathin membranes with high separation performance and stability remains a great challenge. Tannic acid (TA) is a bio-based polyphenol and can form multifunctional coatings through catechol chemistry. In this study, polyethyleneimine (PEI) and TA were alternatively deposited on hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (HPAN) porous membrane via l...

Extraordinary mass transfer phenomenon is usually found when the small molecules pass through a confined structure, whose effective size is commensurate with the mean free path of the molecules. Small changes in the confined mass transfer structure (including size, morphology and properties) will lead to significant fluctuations of the mass transfe...

Fabrication of nanocomposite membranes with high nanoparticles loading is a significant challenge because of the serious agglomeration of nanoparticles at high concentration. In this study, poly(ethylene glycol)-functionalized polyoctahedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (PEG@POSS) nanoparticles were incorporated into sodium alginate (SA) matrix to fa...

In this study, Cu⁺ and Fe²⁺ ions were co-impregnated onto carbon nitride nanosheets via polydopamine chelating, and then incorporated into a Pebax matrix to fabricate the facilitated transport hybrid membranes. The homogeneously dispersed nanosheets disturb the packing of Pebax chains and render the hybrid membrane an appropriate free volume proper...

Although covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have received tremendous attention in recent years due to their unique advantages, their application in membrane processes for liquid mixture separation has not been explored. In this study, COF-based hybrid membranes were fabricated by incorporating COF SNW-1 into sodium alginate (SA) matrices and used f...

Two kinds of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (two-dimensional ZIF-L nanosheets and zero-dimensional ZIF-8 nanoparticles) with the same building blocks were synthesized. Both the ZIF-L and ZIF-8 materials were incorporated into sodium alginate (SA) matrix to fabricate hybrid membranes for pervaporation dehydration of ethanol. At the filler content o...

Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is a common method for controlled fabrication of ultrathin membranes, while bioinspired mineralization is a novel method for controlled synthesis of well-dispersed inorganic particles in hybrid membranes. Here, bioinspired mineralization was integrated with LbL assembly to prepare ultrathin polymer-inorganic hybrid mem...

In this study, hybrid membranes incorporated with sulfonated carbon molecular sieves were fabricated and utilized for pervaporation dehydration of an acetone/water mixture. First, carbon molecular sieves (CMS) were synthesized via a hard template method, and sulfonated by concentrated H2SO4 to prepare sulfonated carbon molecular sieves (SCMS). The...

Hybrid membranes with in situ generated Fe3O4 were fabricated by combining infiltration and magnetic alignment. Typically, a chitosan (CS) membrane containing iron ions was produced and then immediately immersed in NaOH solution. Fe3O4 was in situ generated when OH- infiltrated into the CS networks, and meanwhile a magnetic field was applied to tun...

Hybrid membranes for ethanol dehydration were fabricated by blending sodium alginate with natural hydrophilic attapulgite nanorods, which contained plentiful selective channels and hydrophilic -OH groups. With the incorporation of attapulgite nanorods, the crystallinity of hybrid membranes was gradually decreased and the content of non-freezable wa...

For the selective water-permeation across dense membrane, constructing continuous pathways with high-density ionic groups are of critical significance for the preferential sorption and diffusion of water molecules. In this study, zwitterionic graphene oxides (PSBMA@GO) nanosheets were prepared and incorporated into sodium alginate (SA) membrane for...

For the broadly utilized composite membranes with dense separation layers and porous support layers, the rational manipulation of interfacial interactions between these two layers is vital in optimizing the membrane structure and the associated performance. In this study, we report a facile mussel-inspired approach to enhance the separation selecti...

In this study, highly water-selective hybrid membranes with superior water/ethanol separation performance were fabricated by incorporating g-C3N4 nanosheets (CNs) into sodium alginate (SA) matrix. CNs were synthesized by thermal oxidation “etching” and ultrasound exfoliation methods, and their ultrathin and nanoporous structures were characterized...

Graphene oxide (GO)-based ultrathin hybrid membranes with thicknesses less than 115 nm were fabricated via layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly driven by multiple interactions. Gelatin (GE) and GO were alternately deposited on hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (H-PAN) ultrafiltration membranes through electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bond, and hydrophob...