Development of Novel Mesh-Adjustable Molecular Sieves and Their Membranes for Challenging Separations

[0930079 . Jeong]这项由美国国家科学基金会颁发的化学和生物分离项目的奖项支持了德克萨斯州a&m大学Hae-Kwon Jeong教授的工作，该教授开发了创新的温度响应分子筛，其筛孔大小在普通气体分子的尺度上连续可控，并制造了用于高分辨率分离商业上重要气体分子的膜，特别是丙烯/丙烷。基于金属-有机骨架（MOF）的网状可调分子筛（MAMS）最近显示出从2.9 Å到5 Å的显著控制，显示出前所未有的高分辨率气体分离潜力，包括丙烯/丙烷混合物。这些新型的网状可调分子筛具有巨大的潜力，可以通过精确控制网状尺寸（即对小尺寸差异的气体分子进行极高分辨率的分离）来改变目前基于动力学的膜分离范式。这项工作的智力价值是四倍的。首先，这项工作将使pi能够确定新的网状可调分子筛及其膜是否可以成功设计和合成，以解决目前现有膜无法实现的分离问题。其次，所提出的合成工作将导致一套真正具有变革性的网状可调节分子筛。第三，网状可调分子筛膜由于其前所未有的网状尺寸可调性，将有可能改变基于动力学的气体分离。第四，拟议的研究将建立在pi的基础上。先前的研究成果：一系列基于MOF的新型分子筛，其网目尺寸具有前所未有的可控性，以及具有可控微观结构的金属有机框架（MOF）膜的制造/测试。这项工作的广泛影响是四方面的。首先，能够进行丙烯/丙烷分离的膜的开发将导致一种比目前的蒸馏技术能耗低得多的技术，从而留下更小的碳足迹。其次，虽然这项工作的重点是丙烯/丙烷的分离，但这里研究的材料将与化学和石油化工行业面临的其他困难分离相关，例如膜和粉末（即吸附剂）形式的N2/CH4和n-/i-C4H10。第三，工作的协作性质，跨越有机/无机材料的设计和合成，表征，膜制造和测试，将为参与的学生（两名研究生和一名REU本科生）带来真正的多学科研究经验。第四，基于本研究的科学视频教育推广活动的开发将通过提高公众对科学和工程的兴趣来积极影响K-12教育。

0930079JeongThis NSF award by the Chemical and Biological Separations program supports work by Professor Hae-Kwon Jeong at Texas A&M University to develop innovative temperature-responsive molecular sieves whose mesh sizes are continuously controllable at the scale of common gas molecules and to fabricate their membranes for high resolution separation of commercially important gas molecules, in particular, propene/propane. Mesh-adjustable molecular sieve (MAMS) based on a metal-organic framework (MOF) has recently shown remarkable control of mesh size from 2.9 Å to 5 Å, demonstrating the unprecedented potential for high resolution gas separation including propene/propane mixtures. These novel mesh-adjustable molecular sieves have great potential to transform the current paradigm of kinetic-based membrane separations via precise control of mesh size (i.e., extremely high resolution separation of gas molecules of small size disparity). The intellectual merit of this work is fourfold. First, this work will enable the PIs to determine if the novel mesh-adjustable molecular sieves and their membranes can be successfully designed and synthesized to address separations which are not currently feasible with current membranes. Second, the proposed synthesis work will lead to a set of truly transformative mesh-adjustable molecular sieves. Third, the mesh-adjustable molecular sieve membranes will potentially transform kinetic-based gas separations due to their unprecedented tunability of mesh size. Forth, the proposed research will be built on the PIs? previous results: a series of novel MOF-based molecular sieves with unprecedented controllability of their mesh sizes and fabrication/testing of metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes with controllable microstructure.The broader impacts of this work are fourfold. First, the development of membranes capable of performing propene/propane separation will lead to a technology that is much less energy-intensive than the current practice of distillation, thereby leaving a much smaller carbon footprint. Second, while the focus of this work is propene/propane separation, the materials investigated here will be relevant to other difficult separations facing the chemical and petrochemical industries such as N2/CH4 and n-/i-C4H10 in both membrane and powder (i.e., adsorbent) forms. Third, the collaborative nature of the work, spanning organic/inorganic material design and synthesis, characterization, and membrane fabrication and testing, will lead to a truly multidisciplinary research experience for the students (two graduates and one REU undergraduate) involved. Fourth, the educational outreach activity development of science videos based on the proposed research will positively impact K-12 education by increasing public interest in science and engineering.