Public Research Seminar by Sustainable Energy and Environment Thrust, Function Hub, HKUST(GZ) - Metal-Organic Framework Membranes: Electrified Synthesis and Energy-Efficient Gas Separations
Supporting the below United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:支持以下聯合國可持續發展目標：支持以下联合国可持续发展目标：
Gas separation is a crucial process in energy and chemical production, essential for capturing fuels, refining building blocks for plastics, and isolating pure, inert gases for everyday use. Approximately half of industrial energy usage is attributed to separations, with almost 50% arising from thermally driven methods, such as distillation. Alternative separation technologies, such as membrane separations, show promise in reducing the carbon and energy footprints associated with these traditional unit operations. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), possessing tunable pore size and geometry, are considered a promising platform for molecular separations and membrane design.
This presentation will first introduce an electrified membrane synthesis approach for the continuous fabrication of MOF membranes and demonstrate how to predict membrane growth conditions based on specific building blocks. The speaker will then show how to use this technique as a platform to fine-tune the structure and properties of MOF membranes, including framework flexibility, chemical stability, pore-aperture shape, and pore surface environment, to enhance their gas separation capabilities in olefin/paraffin separations, natural gas purification, and CO2 capture. Furthermore, two new membrane separation mechanisms, shape-mismatch induced separation and affinity-size cooperative separation, will be presented, and their effectiveness in gas separations will be discussed.
Dr. Sheng Zhou is a postdoctoral fellow working in the group of Prof. Michael Tsapatsis at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on developing MOF membranes for various separation applications. He is credited with pioneering the development of an electrified membrane synthesis approach for the fabrication of MOF membranes with gas-sieving quality, making him the first researcher in the world to do so. As the first author, his research outcomes have been published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Nature Energy, Science Advances, and Chem.
Dr. Zhou received his Ph.D. in Chemical Science from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) where he worked in the research group of Prof. Mohamed Eddaoudi. He also holds a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and a master's degree in Chemical Engineering, both of which were earned in the research group of Prof. Haihui Wang at South China University of Technology.
For inquiries, please contact Miss Suggi WU (+86-20-88332966, suggilswu@ust.hk )