Engineering fluorinated COF-based hybrid membranes for efficient blood oxygenation

Poly (4-methyl-1-pentene) (PMP) is widely used between blood and gas in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). However, it is more suitable to miniaturize the oxygenator from an economic and biosafety standpoint, that necessitates the PMP oxygenation membrane with enhanced gas permeance and hemocompatibility. This study introduced fluorinated covalent organic framework (FCOF) nanofiber into PMP matrix to construct PMP-FCOF hybrid flat sheet membranes and hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). FCOF exhibits structural and chemical similarity with PMP, ensuring the good compatibility with PMP matrix. The abundant C–F bonds rendered membrane low-surface-energy of ∼30.2 mN m −1 for PMP–FCOF–3 flat sheet membrane, exhibiting better hemocompatibility compared with that of ∼34.4 mN m −1 for the PMP membrane. The fabricated PMP–FCOF–3 HFMs for blood gas exchange with O 2 exchange rate of ∼309.8 mL min −1 m −2 , which was 77.3 % higher than the commercial PMP HFM, and comparable CO 2 exchange rate of ∼251.7 mL min −1 m −2 with commercial PMP HFM. The blood-gas exchange and hemocompatibility were synergistically enhanced by a simple hybrid strategy, exhibiting great application potentials.