Covalent Organic Framework Membranes from Oppositely Charged Nanosheets toward Efficient Desalination.

Abstract

Fabricating covalent organic framework (COF) membranes through the pre-assembly of nanosheets with different properties may open a novel avenue to the fabrication of advanced 2D membranes. Herein, COF membranes are fabricated using oppositely-charged COF nanosheets (CONs). Negatively-charged CONs and positively-charged CONs are pre-assembled through simple physical mixing, yielding the CONs with an aspect ratio of exceeding 10000, which are assembled into three kinds of COF membranes. The optimal membranes exhibit the highest desalination performance with permeation flux of 132.66 kg m-2 h-1, salt rejection of 99.99%, and superior long-term operation stability.