Advanced porous organic polymer membranes: Design, fabrication, and energy-saving applications

Membrane separation technology is of great research interest in industry owing to its unparalleled merits such as high selectivity with unsuppressed permeability, reduced carbon footprint, small capital investment, and low energy consumption in comparison to traditional separation techniques. In the last few decades, polyamide membranes dominate the membrane industry until the porous organic polymers (POPs) get a ticket into the area of membrane separation. POPs bearing rich pore architectures and feasible functionalization are ready for fabricating novel membranes for rapid and precise molecular sieving. Here, a background overview of separation technology is provided, followed by a brief introduction of various POP-based membranes and the fabrication approaches of these membranes. Then, recent advancements of POP-bases membranes in energy-saving applications including gas separation and liquid separation are highlighted together with discussions about membrane design and generation involved. Finally, a concise conclusion with our perspective and challenges remaining for the future development of POP-based membranes are outlined.