HNI LABORATORY

The separation process has been explored in various fields with different separation objectives. Distillation, chemical absorption, and physical adsorption are commercially available techniques. However, membrane separation is being adopted globally due to its economical benefits of improved energy efficiency and low installation cost. To develop a better membrane, it's essential to produce a defect-free thin film with a nanometer-level thickness and the ability to produce atomic pores of a specific size. Our group uses stacked 2D materials to create an ultra-thin selective layer on a porous support for gas separation, nanofiltration, and desalination. The thinness of the selective layer leads to dramatically improved permeation of molecules, surpassing previous polymer-based membranes. Currently, we focus on carbon-based membranes for reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and battery separators, while exploring new 2D material structures for gas separation. The primary benefit of porous nanosheets is their ultra-thin thickness compared to traditional porous materials like zeolites and MOFs. The high aspect ratio makes it possible to create thin films with a nanometer-scale thickness. Porous nanosheets have the potential to create high-performance membranes through combining with polymers or 2D materials like graphene. The addition of a sheet with an aspect ratio of 1000 to a polymer at a concentration of 10% or higher is believed to result in a high-performance membrane comparable to a continuous crystal membrane. The demand for Li-ion batteries (LIB) is growing due to the increase in eco-friendly vehicles, leading to an increase in spent batteries. LIBs contain toxic substances that can cause environmental pollution if not properly disposed. To address this, recovery of th