CO₂ capture from coal- or natural gas-derived flue gas has been widely considered as the next opportunity for the large-scale deployment of gas separation membranes. Despite the tremendous progress made in the synthesis of polymeric membranes with high CO₂/N₂ separation performance, only a few membrane technologies were advanced to the bench-scale study or above from a highly idealized laboratory setting. Therefore, the recent progress in polymeric membranes is reviewed in the perspectives of capture system energetics, process synthesis, membrane scale-up, modular fabrication, and field tests. These engineering considerations can provide a holistic approach to better guide membrane research and accelerate the commercialization of gas separation membranes for post-combustion carbon capture.

We synthesized core–shell structured Fe/G-PEG NPs composed of an Fe core and a PEGylated graphene, which exhibited superior stability against oxidation, good water dispersity, low cytotoxicity and high magnetic performance. These advantages ensure them as candidates for ultra-sensitive contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging agents in vivo.