Synergistic enhancement of CO₂/N₂ separation performance via Ce-MOF-infused chitosan mixed matrix membrane

Reticular chemistry, exemplified by metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), has proven invaluable in creating porous materials with finely tuned structures to address critical global energy and environmental challenges. In this context, the need for efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and utilization has taken center stage. One promising approach involves the integration of MOFs into polymer matrix to develop mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). In this work, cerium-based MOFs (Ce-MOF) were selected due to their robust CO₂ capture capabilities, while chitosan (CS) was chosen as the polymer matrix due to its reasonably good selectivity and balanced CO₂ permeance for the development of MMMs for CO₂/N₂ (20/80 vol%) separation. A comprehensive suite of analytical techniques, including FTIR, XRD, FESEM, XPS, TGA, EDX, FETEM, and BET, was applied for precise characterization of both the MOF and MMMs. Various operational parameters, such as Ce-MOF content and temperature, were systematically explored to investigate the CO₂ capture efficiency of the synthesized MMMs. The results revealed that the optimized Ce-MOF-embedded CS MMMs consistently outperformed the bare CS membranes.