Polymer Membranes: From Synthesis to Applications (2nd Edition)

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymeric Membranes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 2556

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: polymers; biopolymers; membranes; wastewater; pollutants; hybrid films; electrochemistry; corrosion; membrane separation processes
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E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Analytical Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies, University Politehnica of Bucharest, Gheorghe Polizu Street, No. 1–7, 011061 Bucharest, Romania
Interests: synthesis of composite materials; adsorbents; modified composite based on polymer; applications of adsorbents material; photodegradation process; characterization methods; wastewaters treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit your work to this Special Issue on “Polymer Membranes: From Synthesis to Applications”. The synthesis and applications of different polymeric membranes have attracted attention in recent decades due to their advantages, such as high separation efficiency, high selectivity, feasibility, the ability to remove metal ions, organic or inorganic colloids, bacteria or other microorganisms from water and wastewater, high flow at low pressures, fouling resistance, good mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability, and low cost.

This Special Issue will focus on the synthesis, characterization, and applications of polymer membranes. The most used polymeric membrane preparation includes phase inversion, non-solvent-induced phase separation, vapor-induced phase separation, electrospinning, track etching (swift heavy-ion irradiation, chemical etching), and sintering. The aim of this Special Issue is to open for a new preparation method for polymeric membranes. Papers on the physical and chemical structure of polymer membranes, as well as experimental and theoretical developments in this field aiming to provide a better understanding of interconnections, interactions, intermolecular and cross-linked polymeric networks, and their associated beneficial properties for various applications based on polymer membranes (e.g., electrodialysis, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, microfiltration, osmosis, fuel cells) will be gladly considered.

In this Special Issue, original research articles, full papers, communications, and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Preparation of polymer membranes
  • Characterization of polymer membranes by various techniques, including FTIR-ATR, SEM, TEM, water contact angle, surface free energy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)
  • Polymeric membrane processes and applications (such as: membrane-based metal removal process, polymer membranes in water treatment and so on).

Dr. Simona Căprărescu
Dr. Cristina Modrogan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymeric membranes
  • membrane technologies
  • membrane characterization
  • membrane performances
  • environmental protection
  • water and wastewater treatment

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3465 KiB  
Article
PCL/PEO Polymer Membrane Prevents Biofouling in Wearable Detection Sensors
by Roberto Delgado-Rivera, William García-Rodríguez, Luis López, Lisandro Cunci, Pedro J. Resto and Maribella Domenech
Membranes 2023, 13(8), 728; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13080728 - 12 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2165
Abstract
Technological advances in biosensing offer extraordinary opportunities to transfer technologies from a laboratory setting to clinical point-of-care applications. Recent developments in the field have focused on electrochemical and optical biosensing platforms. Unfortunately, these platforms offer relatively poor sensitivity for most of the clinically [...] Read more.
Technological advances in biosensing offer extraordinary opportunities to transfer technologies from a laboratory setting to clinical point-of-care applications. Recent developments in the field have focused on electrochemical and optical biosensing platforms. Unfortunately, these platforms offer relatively poor sensitivity for most of the clinically relevant targets that can be measured on the skin. In addition, the non-specific adsorption of biomolecules (biofouling) has proven to be a limiting factor compromising the longevity and performance of these detection systems. Research from our laboratory seeks to capitalize on analyte selective properties of biomaterials to achieve enhanced analyte adsorption, enrichment, and detection. Our goal is to develop a functional membrane integrated into a microfluidic sampling interface and an electrochemical sensing unit. The membrane was manufactured from a blend of Polycaprolactone (PCL) and Polyethylene oxide (PEO) through a solvent casting evaporation method. A microfluidic flow cell was developed with a micropore array that allows liquid to exit from all pores simultaneously, thereby imitating human perspiration. The electrochemical sensing unit consisted of planar gold electrodes for the monitoring of nonspecific adsorption of proteins utilizing Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The solvent casting evaporation technique proved to be an effective method to produce membranes with the desired physical properties (surface properties and wettability profile) and a highly porous and interconnected structure. Permeability data from the membrane sandwiched in the flow cell showed excellent permeation and media transfer efficiency with uniform pore activation for both active and passive sweat rates. Biofouling experiments exhibited a decrease in the extent of biofouling of electrodes protected with the PCL/PEO membrane, corroborating the capacity of our material to mitigate the effects of biofouling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Membranes: From Synthesis to Applications (2nd Edition))
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