The Research and Postgraduate Centre congratulates Lau Hui Shen, a Ph.D. student, Prof. Ir. Dr. Yong Wai Fen, and their research team from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering and the Center of Excellence for Green and Advanced Technologies in Efficient Separations (GATES), for their recent work published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.

Chemical Engineering Journal is an SCIE Q1 journal known for publishing impactful research in chemical engineering and materials science with a latest Impact Factor of 13.2. 

The published article, titled “Environmentally responsible synthesis of polymer-nano fused composite membranes with long-term stability for sustainable CO₂ separation”, is the result of an international collaboration involving Dr. Feng Fan from National University of Singapore, Dr. Chen Qiubo from Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cao Xue-Li and Prof. Dr. Sun Shi-Peng from Nanjing Tech University, China.

Decades of progress in conventional membrane fabrication have been limited by hazardous manufacturing solvents, permeability-selectivity trade-off, and the inherent performance decline of polymer membranes over time, which have collectively hindered its large-scale adoption. 

Under the supervision of Prof. Ir. Yong, the team reports two breakthrough innovations centered on sustainability. For the first time, the bio-based derived green solvent, TamiSolve® NxG was employed to synthesize polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM-1) in a remarkablly shortened duration of 2h, far more efficient than conventional methods. Furthermore, the PIM-1 backbone was architecturally reinforced with water-synthesized metal-organic frameworks through an in situ fusion process, creating a robust polymer-nano fused network. 

The resulting membranes delivered enhanced CO₂ separation performance while resisting physical aging for over one year, highlighting the membrane durability. A preliminary economic study confirmed that adopting TamiSolve® NxG brings clear financial gains compared to conventional solvents, making sustainable manufacturing economically viable.

This research received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 22108118), State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Xiamen University (grant number: 2024X32) and Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund (grant numbers: XMUMRF/2021-C14/IENG/0073 and ICOE/0003).

The published full article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.177648.

The graphical abstract of this research.

Prof. Yong Wai Fen is currently the Head of Postgraduate Programmes (Chemical Engineering) at the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Green and Advanced Technologies in Efficient Separations (GATES). Her research focuses on sustainable green materials and advanced membrane and separation technologies for CO₂ capture, biogas separation, industrial air purification, and water purification.

For more details, refer to: https://sites.google.com/view/wfyongmembraneresearch/home