Room temperature aqueous synthesis of defect-engineered MOF-801 membrane towards efficient nanofiltration

Room temperature (RT) aqueous preparation of MOF membranes is of significant interest in meeting the demands of sustainability. Nevertheless, there remains no report on RT aqueous synthesis of water-stable high-valence MOF membranes to date. In this study, we developed a one-step RT protocol for fabricating defect-engineered MOF-801 membrane in aqueous media. Owing to enhanced structural hydrophilicity and enlarged micropore size, water was enabled to diffuse through the membrane with higher permeation flux. Obtained membrane exhibited exceptional dye rejection rate (CR:99.75%, MB:99.69% and MG:99.41%) and unprecedented water flux (CR:77.33 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1, MB:71.43 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1 and MG:81.28 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1), which were superior to state-of-the-art 3D pure MOF membranes. Our protocol paves a promising way towards sustainable production of water-stable MOF membranes under mild conditions.