Origami-enabled Super Compaction of Membranes

可持续的膜基技术可以将能源、运营和资本成本降低50%，用于能源密集型工艺，如从空气中捕获二氧化碳或生物甲烷。这些过程占世界能源消耗的10-15%，更节能的方法每年可节省40亿美元的能源成本。根据国际能源署的数据，英国约900个沼气厂的年发电量预计将达到26.3太瓦时。到2020年。这意味着大量的沼气需要净化，因为沼气含有~15-50%的二氧化碳，如果采用膜分离技术，将完全具有变革性。膜是一种热选择性薄膜，它可以根据分子的大小、形状或表面特性来分离分子，而不需要任何相变。因此，与传统技术（如蒸馏）相比，分离成本显著降低。膜的性能是由渗透率来定义的。例如，通过膜的分子数量和选择性。即所需分子与其他分子分离的量。目前，聚合物膜因其易于加工和机械灵活性而主导着全球膜市场（到2019年约为392亿美元）。然而，聚合物膜由于其固有的结构和较低的化学稳定性，分离效率较低。在先进的材料中，沸石咪唑框架（ZIF）膜在分离具有挑战性的混合物方面显示出前所未有的能力。这些混合物由金属阳离子（如锌）形成，由有机咪唑基连接剂（如2-甲基咪唑）桥接，可以作为优异的分子筛。由于目前基于溶剂的热制造方法，制造商用膜具有挑战性。因此，需要创新的技术。在这个提案中，我们的目标是通过应用折纸的超压实来解决“膜制造的升级挑战”。我们将利用ZIF材料，为可持续的未来实现可持续的膜基分离技术的广泛应用。折纸超压实技术与电化学原子层沉积技术相结合，将对21世纪制造业的规模化产生革命性的影响；多功能ZIF膜。这些具有数百平方米表面积的下一代膜也将彻底改变我们今天所知道的化学分离过程。由于减少了能源需求和排放，这些过程将更具可持续性。从长远来看，这也将改变环境和我们的福祉。这些可折叠膜具有彻底改变膜材料的潜力，因为它们可以通过将表面积/测试单元效率提高一个数量级来尽可能地紧凑。我们相信所提出的制造方法可以转化为其他ZIF类型和先进材料，如沸石或碳纳米管。

Sustainable membrane-based technologies can cut the energy, operational and capital costs up to 50% for energy intensive processes such as CO2 capture from air or biomethane. These processes account for 10-15% of the world's energy consumption and more energy efficient methods could save $4 billion in energy costs annually. According to International Energy Agency, annual electricity production from ~900 biogas plants in the UK is expected to reach 26.3 TWh.year-1 by 2020. That translates as significant amount of biogas to be purified because biogas contains ~15-50% CO2 and membrane-based separation, if applied, can totally be transformative.Membranes are perm-selective films, which separate molecules depending on their size, shape or surface properties without requiring any phase change. Therefore, separation costs are reduced significantly when compared to conventional technologies e.g., distillation. The performance of a membrane is defined by permeance-i.e., the amount of molecules pass through a membrane and selectivity-i.e., the amount of the desired molecules separated from the rest. Currently, polymer membranes are dominating the global membrane market (~$39.2 billion by 2019) due to their ease of processability and mechanical flexibility. However, polymer membranes have low separation efficiency due to their intrinsic structure and low chemical stability.Amongst advanced materials, zeolite imidazole framework (ZIF) membranes have shown unprecedented capabilities towards separating challenging mixtures These are formed by metal cations (e.g., zinc), bridged by organic imizadole-based linkers (e.g., 2-methyl imidazole) that can act as excellent molecular sieves.Manufacturing commercial membranes are challenging due to current solvent-based thermal fabrication methods. Therefore, innovative techniques are required.In this proposal, we aim to address "upscaling challenges of membrane manufacturing" by applying origami-enabled super compaction. We will utilise ZIF materials to enable wide-spread application of sustainable membrane-based separation technologies for sustainable future. The origami-enabled super compaction, combined with electro-chemical atomic layer deposition, will be transformative in the upscaling of manufacturing 21st Century; multi-functional ZIF membranes. These next generation membranes with hundreds of square meter surface area will also completely transform the chemical separation processes that we know today. These processes will be more sustainable as a result of reduced energy requirement and emissions. This will also transform the environment and our well-being in long-term. These foldable membranes have the potential to revolutionalise membrane materials since they can be as compact as possible by increasing surface area/test unit efficiencies by an order of magnitude. We believe the manufacturing method proposed can be translated to other ZIF types and advanced materials such as zeolites or carbon nanotubes.