Construction of anchor points in metal-organic framework-based membranes for high flux separations and high-efficient anticancer drug intermediates capture

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have attracted tremendous attentions as valuable materials to realize energy-efficiency micro-molecule separation. Nonetheless, traditional MMMs inevitably faced low-level substrate-polymer interfacial consistency, functional loadings agglomeration, limited attachment of active reactor and so on, causing poor selectivity of molecular transport in nanochannels. Herein, incorporating ideas from mussel biomimetic chemistry, a bottom-up approach was developed for in situ assembling nanosized metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) in polydopamine-adhesive nanoparticles, followed by boron-affinity sol–gel strategy driven anchoring points formation in electrospinning nanofiber membranes to achieve effectively separate shikimic acid (SA) with great medicinal value. Our approach simultaneously improved permeability and selectivity for the membrane adsorbent to nanoscale molecules, and superior SA affinity stability was maintained even during long-term cyclic tests that of only less than 14.97% of rebinding selective capacity loss and 9.83% of perm-selectivity damage. In addition, the antifouling durability as well as antibacterial persistence were retained with ultrahigh UiO-66-functionalized polydopamine (PDA)-connected nanoparticle loadings. This symbiosis-driven de novo strategy could potentially draw bright blueprint for burgeoning MMMs that could realize precise separation to molecules of medical value.