Continuously Tunable Pore Size for Gas Separation via a Bilayer Nanoporous Graphene Membrane

S Wang and S Dai and DE Jiang, ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS, 2, 379-384 (2019).

DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.8b01967

Pore size is a crucial factor impacting gas separation, but difficult to control for a single-layer nanoporous graphene membrane. Here, we propose a bilayer design of a nanoporous graphene membrane with a continuously tunable effective pore size, by shifting the lateral position of one graphene layer against the other. Molecular dynamics simulations of gas permeation reveal that selective separation of gases, such as CO2, N-2, and CH4, of 3-4 angstrom in kinetic diameter can be achieved for a bilayer membrane from single-layer pores as large as 25 angstrom in size. Hence, this bilayer design allows both great flexibility of pore sizes in a single layer of graphene and continuous variation of the effective pore size through the bilayer at a sub- angstrom level.

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