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- Published: 14 July 2025
- Pengxiang Zhang ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3761-63621,2 na1,
- Qian Wang ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0007-5250-90271,2 na1,
- Yixin Zhang ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0007-5036-13131,2,
- Mo Lin1,2,
- Xin Zhou ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6431-731X1,
- Ashish David ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3316-838X3,
- Andrey Ustyuzhanin ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7865-23571,4,5,
- Musen Chen1,
- Mikhail I. Katsnelson6,
- Maxim Trubyanov ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6290-62011,
- Kostya S. Novoselov ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4972-53711,2 &
- …
- Daria V. Andreeva ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0273-20641,2
Nature Nanotechnology (2025)Cite this article
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Abstract
Graphene oxide (GO) membranes offer high selectivity and energy-efficient gas separation. However, their dense, layered structure and tortuous diffusion paths limit permeability, posing a barrier to industrial use. Here we present a method to enhance selectivity and permeability, maintaining the structural stability of such membranes. With an industrially friendly manufacturing method, we produce crumpled GO membranes with gas diffusion pathways controlled by a multidomain structure. These membranes achieve H2 permeability of approximately 2.1 × 104 barrer, significantly surpassing the permeability of flat lamellar GO membranes, which is below 100 barrer. Its H2/CO2 selectivity of 91 outperforms current membrane technologies. In addition, the crumpled membranes demonstrate stability under harsh conditions (−20 °C, 96% relative humidity), a critical requirement for practical applications. This work addresses the long-standing permeability–selectivity trade-off and establishes a robust, scalable platform for integrating two-dimensional materials into membrane technology for real-world applications.
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All data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information. Additional raw data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This research is supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore, under its Research Centre of Excellence award to the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM, project no. EDUNC-33-18-279V12). We thank C. Wong from KEYENCE SINGAPORE PTE LTD. for his assistance with spatial microscopy of cGO membranes using the VHX-7000 digital microscope. A.U. acknowledges funding from the Materials Generative Design and Testing Framework (MAT-GDT) programme at A*STAR, provided through the AME Programmatic Fund (grant no. M24N4b0034). K.S.N. acknowledges support from the National Research Foundation, Singapore under its AI Singapore Programme (AISG award no. AISG3-RP-2022-028) and from the Royal Society (UK, grant no. RSRP\R\190000).
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Nature Nanotechnology thanks Haiqing Lin, Weishen Yang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Zhang, P., Wang, Q., Zhang, Y. et al. Strain-induced crumpling of graphene oxide lamellas to achieve fast and selective transport of H2 and CO2. Nat. Nanotechnol. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01971-8
Received: 04 September 2024
Accepted: 05 June 2025
Published: 14 July 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01971-8
