Mostapha's work has been published in I&EC Research!

Herein, we show that the nanoporous carbon (NPC) film has a perforated lamellar (PL) nanostructure where molecular transport is limited by an interlamellar spacing of ∼2 nm. The unique PL nanostructure of the NPC film originates from its precursor, i.e., a block-copolymer stabilized by hydrogen bonding with a carbohydrate additive, where the latter also acts as the main carbon-forming agent. This nanostructure is highly sensitive to the carbohydrate/block-copolymer ratio and gives way to a lacey structure below a ratio of 2:1. The transport of gases through the interlamellar spacing takes place predominantly in the Knudsen regime, determined by their molecular mass. Attributed to a thickness of 100 nm, the film yields extremely rapid gas transport with a H₂ permeance over two million gas permeation units (GPU) and H₂/CO₂ selectivity over 4.5 in a temperature range of 25–300 °C. These properties make the NPC film a promising membrane support and a good choice for the mechanical reinforcement for high-permeance two-dimensional membranes for gas separation.