Separation

Separating molecules accounts for a large share of industrial energy use, and membranes are among the lowest-energy ways to do it. The Centre designs the materials that make that work: metal–organic framework glasses and hybrid glass-ceramics, mixed-matrix and carbon molecular sieve membranes for gas separation, and framework-based membranes for water purification and liquid separation.

MOF glasses and hybrid glass membranes

Associate Professor Jingwei Hou and Dr Rijia Lin

Melting metal–organic frameworks into glasses, and shaping those glasses into membranes. The Centre established hybrid glass-ceramics as a materials class and continues to work on how MOF glasses form, how porosity survives the melt, and how the resulting materials can be processed — including melt-sintered MOF glass–2D nanosheet composites and highly porous glasses designed specifically for gas separation. The attraction is a material with the selectivity of a framework and the processability of a glass.

Gas separation membranes

Associate Professor Jingwei Hou and Dr Rijia Lin

Building membranes that separate gas mixtures efficiently enough to matter industrially — carbon capture, hydrogen purification, natural gas processing. Work covers mixed-matrix membranes with framework fillers, carbon molecular sieve membranes with tailored pore structure, and the interface engineering that decides whether a filler helps or simply creates defects. A running theme is predicting long-term behaviour rather than reporting day-one performance.

Membranes for water and liquid separation

Associate Professor Jingwei Hou

Extending framework chemistry to liquid-phase separations: covalent organic framework and porous organic cage membranes for water purification, thin-film nanocomposite membranes incorporating hydrogen-bonded frameworks, and self-cleaning nanofibre membranes that separate oil from water while degrading the dyes left behind. The aim is precise molecular sieving in water without sacrificing flux or fouling resistance.