The project, which has secured funding from Korea CCS R&D Center (KCRC) established by the Ministry of Science, ICT and future Planning (MSIP), has demonstrated that some layered graphene and graphene oxide membranes can be engineered to exhibit the desired characteristics for gas separation. The Hanyang University’s research team has successfully developed a new graphene based-membrane material with high CO2 selectivity.
“We are pleased with the results of this new membrane material and thank the MSIP and KCRC for their support,” said Dr. Ho Bum Park, a professor in the Hanyang University, who leads the study. “Graphene is a distinct two-dimensional material that offers a wide range of opportunities for membrane applications because of ultimate thinness, flexibility, chemical stability, and mechanical strength. We focused our research on overcoming the limit of currently available membrane materials by carbon nano-material, i.e. graphene. Especially, technologies relevant to graphene manufacturing allowed us to reach our goal successfully.”
Dr. Sang Do Park, a director in the KCRC, said: “While many scientists and engineers have joined the first-class research in this area, there are still gaps in the most technical aspects of CO2 capture membrane technology. The results of his ongoing research clearly show the possibility of manufacturing high-tech membranes with around 5 nm thickness. Furthermore, his membrane demonstrates approximately 1000 times better performance than the commercially available membrane used in separation of the gas targeted in the gaseous mixture. From this study, we are now expecting that this innovative graphene-based membrane can open a new era of Carbon Capture & Sequestration(CCS) technology.”
The work has been published in Science (Online) issued in Oct.4.