Cellulose nanofiber membrane modified with functionalized MIL-101 for enhanced hydrogen separation

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are expected to be strong competitors in gas separation membranes. Nevertheless, the poor interaction between fillers and matrix is a major restriction to prepare MMMs with a higher separation performance. In this work, MIL-101(Cr) was functionalized with −NH 2 , −COOH, and benzenesulfonic acid (−PhSO 3 H) group and these functionalized MIL-101 particles were embedded in cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) to form MMMs. The interaction effect of functionalized MIL-101 with CNFs on the separation performance was discussed. After the adjustment of MIL-101-NH 2 loading, the resulting MIL-101-NH 2 /CNF membrane with 5 wt% loading exhibited enhanced H 2 permeance of ~ 2.56 × 10 − 7  mol m −2  s − 1  Pa − 1 with H 2 /CO 2 ideal selectivity of ~ 21.9.