Bio-based Furanic Polyamide Membranes with Enhanced Performance for Sustainable Dehumidification

Abstract Dehumidification membranes play a critical role in applications such as building air conditioning, moisture protection for electronic devices, and medical drying. However, conventional commercial membranes, primarily derived from nonrenewable fossil resources, are limited by the inherent permeability-selectivity trade-off and inadequate hydrolytic stability, which compromise their durability and sustainability. In this work, we report a bio-based furan-polyamide membrane (FFPA-100) designed via an electronic-spatial synergistic strategy, which achieves an ultrahigh H2O permeability of 12,773 Barrer and an exceptional ideal H2O/N2 selectivity of 38,602, thereby providing a favorable balance between permeability and selectivity compared with meta-phenyl FIPA-100 (PH2O = 8564 Barrer, H2O/N2 = 9106) and para-phenyl FTPA-100 (PH2O = 2680 Barrer, H2O/N2 = 79,642) membranes. Crucially, FFPA-100 demonstrates exceptional hydrolytic stability, showing unchanged 1H NMR spectra, 93% molecular weight retention, and 88% tensile strength retention after 5000 h in 80 °C water. Furthermore, the membrane maintained excellent durability under operational conditions, as evidenced by over 1000 h of dehumidification aging testing. Molecular simulations support a dual functionality of the furan oxygen: facilitating water transport through enhanced polarity while protecting amide bonds from hydrolysis via electron donation. This study provides a molecular-design pathway for energy-efficient dehumidification membranes and highlights the potential of biomass-derived feedstocks to support a more sustainable lifecycle in membrane fabrication and chemical manufacturing.