Structural manipulation of ZIF-8-based membranes for high-efficiency molecular separation

Abstract Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8)-based membranes have gained increasing interests as the next-generation membranes to tackle many critical separation challenges. In this review, we comprehensively analyze the progress of ZIF-8-based membranes, involving ZIF-8 polycrystalline membranes and ZIF-8 incorporated mixed-matrix membranes. We focus on the structural manipulation of ZIF-8 crystals and the membranes, aiming at providing guidelines and insights for the design of optimized ZIF-8-based membrane with improved separation performance. Moreover, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of ZIF-8 membranes from the viewpoints of both fundamental science and practical applications, with the goal of identifying the future directions of ZIF-8-based membranes.