IISER Bhopal conducts research on producing membranes for separation of toxic molecules from water

NEW DELHI: Researchers at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have come up with a new research aimed at separating toxic molecules from water. The research highlights the ways to produce a free- standing crystalline nanoporous organic film, that will be able to separate the toxic micropollutants from water.

The research is led by Abhijit Patra, associate professor at department of chemistry at IISER Bhopal, Arkaprabha Giri and Tapas Kumar Dutta. A statement from the institute said that membrane separation is a technique, which is widely used in the Indus for separation and purification of various substances. Membranes used for the process are made up of porous materials. The statements further informed that these days, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are being used as porous materials for membrane-based separation.The IISER Bhopal-led research has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.

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Conclusions of the research

The press release issued by the institute stated that COFs are light in weight, are highly stable thermally and are permanently porous, which makes them a preferred choice for exercising membrane separation.

Abhijit Patra, underlining the technical details of the work carried out by him and his fellow workers, said: "Our findings open up a new route for structural interconversion between two crystalline entities with diverse dimensionality, employing dynamic covalent chemistry (DCC) at the confined interface under ambient conditions".

He further said that the research study has created a link between the small, cage-like organic structures and larger polymeric frameworks that have pores, which could lead to the development of better membranes for separating molecules or ions. The researchers of IISER Bhopal are confident that the breakthrough will pave the way for the development of advanced COF-based membranes with high selectivity and efficiency.