Precise selection and separation of ribavirin by nanoconfined imprinted MOFs membrane

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly tunable materials with potential as porous media in membrane separations. However, traditional MOFs are usually not specific and selective. Here, we demonstrate a nanocomposite molecularly imprinted MOFs membrane material that can selectively adsorb and separate specific molecules. We demonstrated this adsorption-separation mechanism by introducing ribavirin molecules into multicomponent MOFs by molecular imprinting strategy and performing permeation and dynamic permeation tests. Due to the previously formed nanocages with a specific structure inside the MOFs, combined with the synergistic effect of the subsequent secondary imprinting, excellent selectivity (more than 6) and effective adsorption (46.46 mg g −1 ) were displayed by the obtained imprinted membrane. The stability of the membrane was measured by the process of dynamic osmosis, and the results showed that the membrane always had a large factor of separation (greater than 7). The experimental results and conclusions of this paper provide new theoretical and practical support for solving the key scientific issues of the “trade-off” effect between the permeation flux and permeation selectivity of template molecules in the traditional molecularly imprinted membranes (MIMs) osmotic separation process.