Porous graphene as an atmospheric nanofilter.
The fabrication of nanoscale membranes exhibiting high selectivity is an emerging field of research. The possibility to use bottom-up approaches to fabricate a filter with porous graphene and analyze its functionality with first principle calculations is investigated. Here, the porous network is produced by self-assembly of the hexaiodo-substituted macrocycle cyclohexa-m-phenylene (CHP). The resulting porous network exhibits an extremely high selectivity in favor of H(2) and He among other atmospheric gases, such as Ne, O(2), N(2), CO, CO(2), NH(3), and Ar. The presented membrane is superior to traditional filters using polymers or silica and could have great potential for further technological applications such as gas sensors or fuel cells.
Blankenburg
Stephan
S
Laboratory, EMPA - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Ueberlandstrasse 129, 8060 Duebendorf, Switzerland. Stephan.Blankenburg@empa.ch
Bieri
Marco
M
Fasel
Roman
R
Müllen
Klaus
K
Pignedoli
Carlo A
CA
Passerone
Daniele
D
D000388:Air; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology; D016062:Porosity
D005740:Gases; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D006108:Graphite