Constructing facilitated transport pathway in hybrid membranes by incorporating MoS2 nanosheets

Constructing facilitated transport pathways using two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets as building blocks is an emerging approach to achieving highly selective passage of small molecules with similar physical properties. Due to high chemical inertness and low structural defects, molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) 2D nanosheets hold great promise in a broad range of molecular separation applications. In this study, MoS 2 nanosheets were incorporated in Pebax matrix to remove thiophene from the n-octane-thiophene mixture. The moderate binding energy of thiophene on the basal plane of MoS 2 enabled the construction of continuous facilitated transport pathways on the MoS 2 nanosheet for rapid diffusion of thiophene molecules. When the content of MoS 2 in the hybrid membrane was 4   wt%, the membrane displayed an optimum desulfurization performance with a permeation flux of 11.42   kg/ (m 2   h) (22.27% higher than that of Pebax membrane) and an enrichment factor of 9.11 (65.94% higher than that of Pebax membrane) at 60   °C with a feed solution containing 1312   ppm thiophene. This study is the first attempt of using MoS 2 nanosheets in pervaporative separations of small molecules liquid mixture, which may open a novel avenue to constructing facilitated transport pathway within membranes for efficient molecular sieving.