Precisely tailored graphene oxide membranes on glass fiber supports for efficient hydrogen separation.

Graphene oxide (GO)-based membranes have been widely studied for various separation applications, but it is highly desirable to tailor their structure for the separation of small molecules such as hydrogen. Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication of a thin GO membrane by using a low-cost and highly gas permeable glass fiber (GF) filter as a porous substrate. By partial thermal reduction of GO, the interlayer channel size of the GF-supported GO membrane is precisely tailored for molecular sieving, leading to extraordinarily enhanced hydrogen separation performance. With the synergistic effect of retained functional-group interactions, the quasi-reduced GO (q-rGO) membrane displays a H 2 permeance of 783 ± 50 gas permeance units (GPU) and an impressive H 2 /CO 2 separation factor as high as 3636 ± 312, which is the highest selectivity for H 2 /CO 2 reported thus far. In addition, the q-rGO membrane exhibits excellent durability with no performance degradation during a 120-h test. Our results represent a key step toward GO membrane-based molecular sieving applications. [Display omitted] • The interlayer spacing of graphene oxides is tailored by partial reduction at a lower temperature. • The precisely tailored interlayer spacing enhances the channel-size sieving effect. • The H 2 /CO 2 separation factor reaches 3636 ± 312. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]