Polycrystalline zirconium metal-organic framework membranes supported on flexible carbon cloth for organic solvent nanofiltration

Water-stable zirconium metal-organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) such as the UiO-66 series have been recently identified as promising materials for polycrystalline membranes. However, the reliance of such membranes on rigid and expensive ceramic substrates with low packing density has greatly limited their wider applications. Herein, we report polycrystalline UiO-66(Zr)–NH2 membranes grown on cheap and flexible carbon cloth by in situ solvothermal synthesis. The membranes possess sub-micron thicknesses with a certain flexibility and angular bend tolerance up to 10°. In addition, these membranes exhibit great separation performance in organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) because of their excellent solvent resistance, with above 99.8% dye rejection and high flux for dichloromethane (ca. 0.17 kg m−2 h−1 bar−1). Our study paves the way toward the development of polycrystalline Zr-MOF membranes for challenging liquid separations.