Exploiting giant pore system of nanosized MIL-101 in PDMS matrix for facilitated reverse-selective hydrocarbon transport

Membrane gas separation offers high energy efficiency, easy operation and reduced environmental impacts for vast hydrocarbon recovery in petrochemical industry. However, the recovery of real light hydrocarbon mixture (e.g., olefin/nitrogen) remains challenging for lack of high-performance membranes with sufficient reverse selectivity (large molecules permeate faster) and permeability. Here we report the incorporation of fine-tuned, giant-pore featured MIL-101 nanocrystals into rubbery polymer to fabricate hybrid membranes, which successfully exploited the giant-pore channels and large sorption volume of MIL-101 pore system. The synthesized MIL-101/PDMS hybrid membranes demonstrated remarkably simultaneous improvement of gas permeance and separation factor for model gas mixture propylene/nitrogen. Compared to the pristine PDMS, the propylene permeance and separation factor could be improved more than 50% by adjusting MIL-101 loading and operating conditions. By consulting molecular simulations and gas sorp...