Membrane‐based separation is poised to reduce the operation cost of propylene/propane separation; however, identifying a suitable molecular sieve for membrane development is still an ongoing challenge. Here, the successful identification and use of a metal–organic framework (MOF) material as fillers, namely, the Zr‐fum‐fcu‐MOF possessing an optimal contracted triangular pore‐aperture driving the efficient diffusive separation of propylene from propane in mixed‐matrix membranes are reported. It is demonstrated that the fabricated hybrid membranes display a high propylene/propane separation performance, far beyond the current trade‐off limit of polymer membranes with excellent properties under industrial conditions. Most importantly, the mechanism behind the exceptional high propylene/propane selectivity is delineated by exploring theoretically the efficiency of sieving of different conformers of propane through the hypothesized triangular rigid pore‐aperture of Zr‐fum‐fcu‐MOF.

中文翻译：

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膜基丙烯/丙烷分离的构象控制分子筛效应

基于膜的分离有望降低丙烯/丙烷分离的运行成本；然而，为膜开发寻找合适的分子筛仍然是一个挑战。在这里，成功地识别并使用了金属-有机骨架（MOF）材料作为填充剂，即Zrum - fcu据报道，MOF具有最佳的收缩三角形孔孔径，可驱动丙烯在混合基质膜中从丙烷中有效扩散扩散。结果表明，所制备的杂化膜具有很高的丙烯/丙烷分离性能，远远超过了目前在工业条件下具有优异性能的聚合物膜的折衷极限。最重要的是，通过理论上探索通过假设的Zrum - fcu - MOF的三角形刚性孔孔径筛分不同构象丙烷的效率，来描述异常高的丙烯/丙烷选择性背后的机理。