Boronate-affinity sol–gel-imprinted membranes with MOFs-functionalized rotary-evaporating layers for high-precision specific recognition

Compared to traditional separation methods, membrane-based separation can reduce environmental impact while reducing energy consumption. However, traditional adsorbents have issues with low selectivity and adsorption capacity because they enclose the majority of their functional sites in their thick structures. In this research, molecularly imprinted nanocomposite membranes were inventively integrated with boronate-affinity sol–gel imprinting technique (BSIT). It is important to note that in this work, the metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) mixed-matrix membrane (MMMs) served as the initial platform for the polydopamine (PDA)-based imprinting layer. The key to the fabrication of the MOFs MMMs was the employment of the rotary evaporation technique. The prepared boronate-affinity sol–gel molecularly imprinted membranes (BS-MIMs) played an important role in the high selectivity of the specific compound shikimic acid (SA) through covalent (boronate-affinity) and non-covalent (–OH and –NH2) effect. This new approach provides a more precise combination of simultaneously increasing selectivity (greater than 5.0) and adsorption capacity (up to 107.87 mg g−1). The efficiency of BSIT makes it extremely competitive for the development of selective separation membranes.