A comprehensive review on PIM-1 membranes for enhanced CO2 separation: strategies for CO2 transport enhancement.

This work presents a comprehensive review of recent progress in diverse modification strategies aimed at improving CO2 transport within PIM-1 membranes. To address the pressing need for efficient CO2 capture technologies in mitigating climate change and advancing toward carbon neutrality, membrane-based gas separation technologies, particularly those utilizing high-permeability polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) such as PIM-1, have emerged as a highly promising solution. However, PIM-1 is inherently plagued by a pronounced "trade-off" between gas permeability and selectivity, exacerbated by physical aging, which necessitates the development of targeted modification strategies. This review systematically categorizes, analyzes, and critically evaluates modification strategies spanning microscopic and macroscopic scales, encompassing a full spectrum of pre-modification and post-modification approaches. The efficacy of these strategies in enhancing CO2 permeability and selectivity is critically assessed, with in-depth discussions on their influences on underlying gas transport mechanisms. Future research directions are systematically mapped out, and actionable recommendations for the design and preparation of next-generation high-performance CO2 separation membranes based on PIM-1 materials are proposed.