Chemical engineering articles within Nature Materials

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  • Article |

    Ion exchange is a powerful method to access metastable materials for energy storage, but identifying lithium and sodium interchange in layered oxides remains challenging. Using such model materials, vacancy level and corresponding lithium preference are shown to be crucial for ion exchange pathway accessibility.

    • Yu Han
    • , Weihang Xie
    •  & Chong Liu

  • News & Views |

    Incorporating additives that contain hydrogen-bonding nanochannels creates nanoconfined polymer gels that are highly stretchable, elastic and insensitive to notch propagation.

    • Meixiang Wang
    •  & Michael D. Dickey

  • News & Views |

    Processible centimetre-scale porous glasses using zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) materials are developed, while fine-tuning of the processing conditions allows control of pore size and molecular sieving properties.

    • Georgia R. F. Orton
    •  & Neil R. Champness

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Porosity of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks can be preserved beyond glass transition and melt processing. Here centimetre-scale porous glasses are demonstrated, whereas liquid processing enables fine-tuning of the size of the gas-transporting channels for molecular sieving.

    • Oksana Smirnova
    • , Seungtaik Hwang
    •  & Alexander Knebel

  • News & Views |

    Using an electrochemical continuous flow cell, nitrogen reduction to ammonia is rigorously demonstrated through a calcium-mediated approach.

    • Michael A. Yusov
    •  & Karthish Manthiram

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Unit-cell-thick films of metal–organic frameworks with ordered porosity would be attractive for membrane applications as these thin systems combine large molecular flux with high selectivity. Here crystalline ZIF films are grown on a crystalline substrate with high H2/N2 gas separation performance.

    • Qi Liu
    • , Yurun Miao
    •  & Kumar Varoon Agrawal

  • Article |

    Ethylene separation from ethane is the most energy-intensive separation in the chemical process industry, but so far membranes have not exceeded an ethylene/ethane selectivity of >20 in mixed gases. Here a carbon molecular sieve with an ethylene selectivity of ~100 and long-term stability under high-pressure gas is reported.

    • Khalid Hazazi
    • , Yingge Wang
    •  & Ingo Pinnau

  • News & Views |

    A strategy of using a high ligand/metal ion concentration ratio eliminates lattice defects in polycrystalline zirconium metal–organic framework membranes, enhancing their molecular sieving performance.

    • Jun Lu
    •  & Huanting Wang

  • Article |

    Membranes formed from porous adsorbents can improve the economics of industrially difficult separations but require support materials that reduce gas permeance. Here an amorphous glassy foam membrane without a support is formed from ZIF-62 that shows high selectivity and permeance for CH4/N2 separations.

    • Zibo Yang
    • , Youssef Belmabkhout
    •  & Chongli Zhong

  • Article |

    MOF membranes can present exceptional molecular-sieving properties, but lattice defects arising from incomplete cluster coordination can hinder this. Here a strategy for the elimination of lattice defects by increasing the ligand to secondary building unit ratio is proposed and demonstrated.

    • Guozhen Liu
    • , Yanan Guo
    •  & Nanping Xu

  • News & Views |

    Carbonization of crosslinked polyimides with kinked structures leads to carbon molecular sieves with bimodal free volumes, enabling both a high molecular-sieving ability and gas permeability.

    • Leiqing Hu
    •  & Haiqing Lin

  • News & Views |

    As metal–organic frameworks move towards practical application, data for an expanded range of physical properties are needed. Molecular-level modelling and data science can play an important role.

    • Randall Q. Snurr

  • Article |

    Heat capacity of nanoporous materials is important for processes such as carbon capture, as this can affect process design energy requirements. Here, a machine learning approach for heat capacity prediction, trained on density functional theory simulations, is presented and experimentally verified.

    • Seyed Mohamad Moosavi
    • , Balázs Álmos Novotny
    •  & Berend Smit

  • News & Views |

    Outstanding resistance to destructive radiation damage in structural alloys is realized by ultra-high-density reversible nanoprecipitate inclusions, and the improvement is attributed to the reordering process of low-misfit superlattices in highly supersaturated matrices.

    • Yanwen Zhang

  • News & Views |

    Bioelectronics demand stretchable devices with steady performance under deformation. By combining an amphiphilic organic semiconducting polymer with tailored film processing, highly stretchable organic electrochemical transistors are demonstrated.

    • Fabio Cicoira

  • News & Views |

    Use of polymer and small-molecule semiconductors with relatively poor miscibility helps the long-term stability of the morphology and photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction films used in organic solar cells.

    • Andrew T. Kleinschmidt
    •  & Darren J. Lipomi

  • Article |

    Zeolite membranes can be used for gas molecular sieving, but synthesis requires complex hydrothermal treatment. Here, single layers of zeolite precursor RUB-15 are exfoliated followed by a condensation reaction, forming zeolite membranes with H2/CO2 selectivity of 20 to 100 in a facile process.

    • Mostapha Dakhchoune
    • , Luis Francisco Villalobos
    •  & Kumar Varoon Agrawal

  • Article |

    Solution processability is required for many industrial processes, but metal–organic frameworks are in general not dispersible, hindering their application. Here, a surface modification is reported that allows porous liquid formation and so synthesis of highly loaded and mechanically robust mixed matrix membranes.

    • Alexander Knebel
    • , Anastasiya Bavykina
    •  & Jorge Gascon

  • News & Views |

    The presence of one-dimensional MEL intergrowths in two-dimensional MDI zeolite nanosheets, inferred from experimental and theoretical analysis, allows for world-beating xylene separation performance.

    • Jürgen Caro
    •  & Jörg Kärger

  • News & Views |

    Using organic solvent shortens formation time of membrane nanosheets comprising proteins and copolymers, while tuning protein structure tailors the pore geometry, resulting in superior water permeation.

    • Andrew G. Livingston
    •  & Zhiwei Jiang

  • Article |

    Protein channels are highly selective, but application in membranes is limited due to low protein content. Here, protein channels are embedded into block copolymers to form nanosheets using rapid solvent casting, with better water permeability and similar molecular exclusions relative to other membrane systems.

    • Yu-Ming Tu
    • , Woochul Song
    •  & Manish Kumar

  • News & Views |

    Polymer precipitation under turbulent flow is used for the high-throughput synthesis of soft microparticles with fractal coronas that display significant adhesive properties.

    • Theodore Hueckel
    •  & Stefano Sacanna

  • Article |

    Organic radical polymers are currently being considered as active materials for fast-charging battery electrodes but their transport and charge storage characteristics are not well understood. A quantitative view of in situ ion transport and doping in these systems during the redox process is now provided.

    • Shaoyang Wang
    • , Fei Li
    •  & Jodie L. Lutkenhaus

  • News & Views |

    By combining metal ions, organic linkers and polymers, ordered frameworks with controlled crystallite size can form. When fabricated into membranes, they combine superlative CO2/N2 separation properties with good hydrolytic stability.

    • Joshua D. Moon
    •  & Benny D. Freeman

  • News & Views |

    A metal–organic framework with tailored porosity provides a mixed matrix membrane with excellent performance for natural gas purification and butane isomer separation.

    • Neil B. McKeown

  • Article |

    Solar water splitting is promising for hydrogen production and solar energy storage, but for large-scale utilization cost must be reduced. A membrane-free approach in separate oxygen and hydrogen cells brings water splitting closer to applications.

    • Avigail Landman
    • , Hen Dotan
    •  & Avner Rothschild

  • Editorial |

    The development of new membrane materials for chemical separations is progressing rapidly, and their commercial success will require a more concerted effort from academia and industry.

  • Interview |

    Andrew Livingston (Imperial College London) and Richard Baker (Membrane Technology and Research) talk to Nature Materials about the perks and pitfalls of membrane research and development, and how activities at the new Barrer Centre might lead to next-generation separation technologies.

    • Jim Hennessy

  • Commentary |

    Membrane materials provide economical means to achieve various separation processes — and their capabilities for processing organic fluids look set to expand significantly.

    • Ryan P. Lively
    •  & David S. Sholl

  • Letter |

    A hydrogel-design strategy achieves transparent and conductive bonding of synthetic hydrogels to a variety of non-porous surfaces, with interfacial toughness values over 1,000 J m−2.

    • Hyunwoo Yuk
    • , Teng Zhang
    •  & Xuanhe Zhao

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