New 2D Metal-Organic Monoacid Framework (MOmAF): Realization of Extreme Water Repellence.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are normally moisture-sensitive and unstable in aqueous environments, which has considerably limited their practical applications because water/moisture is ubiquitous in many industrial processes. New materials with superior water stability are, therefore, in great demand and vital to their practical applications. Here, a novel oil/water interfacial assembly strategy is demonstrated for the synthesis of a new class of metal-organic monoacid framework (MOmAF) with exceptional water stability and chemical stability.

Highly-Controlled Soft-Templating Synthesis of Hollow ZIF-8 Nanospheres for Selective CO Separation and Storage.

Global warming is an ever-rising environmental concern, and carbon dioxide (CO) is among its major causes. Different technologies, including adsorption, cryogenic separation, and sequestration, have been developed for CO separation and storage/utilization. Among these, carbon capture using nano-adsorbents has the advantages of excellent CO separation and storage performance as well as superior heat- and mass-transfer characteristics due to their large surface area and pore volume.

The Growth of Metal-Organic Frameworks in the Presence of Graphene Oxide: A Mini Review.

Integrated metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with graphene oxide (GO) have aroused huge interest in recent years due to their unique properties and excellent performance compared to MOFs or GO alone. While a lot of attention has been focused on the synthesis methodologies and the performance analysis of the composite materials in recent years, the fundamental formation/crystallization mechanism(s) is (are) still not fully understood. Ascribed to the distinctive structural and functional properties of GO, the nucleation and crystallization process of MOFs could be altered/promoted, forming MOF/GO composite materials with different nanostructures.

Lithium Harvesting from the Most Abundant Primary and Secondary Sources: A Comparative Study on Conventional and Membrane Technologies.

The exponential rise in lithium demand over the last decade, as one of the largest sources for energy storage in terms of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), has posed a great threat to the existing lithium supply and demand balance. The current methodologies available for lithium extraction, separation and recovery, both from primary (brines/seawater) and secondary (LIBs) sources, suffer not only at the hands of excessive use of chemicals but complicated, time-consuming and environmentally detrimental design procedures. Researchers across the world are working to review and update the available technologies for lithium harvesting in terms of their economic and feasibility analysis.

Facile fabrication of zeolitic imidazolate framework hollow fibre membranes a novel scalable continuous fluid circulation process.

A novel continuous fluid circulation system was designed and employed for the impregnation seeding and fabrication of zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) crystals on the internal surface of polymeric hollow fibre membranes. Application of impregnation seeding has been proven effective to decrease crystal size, consequently increasing surface roughness and wettability of the membrane. Evaluation of the as-synthesised membrane demonstrated excellent separation efficiencies (>99%) of surfactant stabilised oil-in-water emulsions.