2,2'-Biphenol-based Ultrathin Microporous Nanofilms for Highly Efficient Molecular Sieving Separation.

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is an emerging membrane separation technology, which urgently requires robust, easily processed, OSN membranes possessing high permeance and small solutes-selectivity to facilitate enhanced industrial uptake. Herein, we describe the use of two 2,2'-biphenol (BIPOL) derivatives to fabricate hyper-crosslinked, microporous polymer nanofilms through IP. Ultra-thin, defect-free polyesteramide/polyester nanofilms (≈5 nm) could be obtained readily due to the relatively large molecular size and ionized nature of the BIPOL monomers retarding the rate of the IP.