Nanocomposite Membranes
A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Inorganic Membranes".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2014)
Special Issue Editor
Interests: gas separation; reverse osmosis; forward osmosis; nanocomposite membranes; zeolite membranes; membrane characterization systems; time lag methods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Driven by new developments and innovations in material science and process technologies, membranes have become an integral part of today’s separation processes. The global demand on membrane modules in 2012 reached 15.6 billion USD, and is expected to grow annually by 8% in the next years. Most of commercially utilized synthetic membranes are made of organic polymers. On the other hand, because of inherent trade-off between the productivity and selectivity of organic polymer membranes, the main focus of membrane research in the recent years has concentrated on development of new materials that can overcome this performance limitation. Nanocomposite membranes appear to be the most promising solution.
The term “nanocomposites” is generally associated (but not limited to) with inorganic (porous or nonporous) nanoparticles dispersed within a continuous phase of organic polymer. The nanofillers act to create preferential permeation pathways for selective transport while posing a barrier for undesired transport. The success of nanocomposite membranes depends on the interfacial quality between the nanoparticles and the organic polymer. This interfacial quality can be improved by chemical modifications of the host polymer matrix and/or the inorganic nanofillers. Both rubbery and glassy polymers have been utilized as the organic matrix in nanocomposites. Also, a wide variety of nanoparticles have been tested as inorganic nanofillers. The latter include, metal oxides (e.g., TiO2, Al2O3, SiO2, MgO, AgO, Fe3O4), pure metals (e.g., nanosilver), zeolites (e.g., ZSM-5, silicalate-1, zeolite 4A), nanosized macromer polyoctahedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS), carbon nanoparticles (e.g., carbon nanotubes, C60 flullerens), and mineral clays. These nanoscale fillers are typically prepared ex situ and then introduced to the casting mixture, but also in some cases it is possible to generate them in situ from precursors. Nanocomposite membranes have been considered in virtually all membrane processes including some novel membrane-based applications.
This Special Issue offers a perfect site to document state-of-the-art developments and innovations in nanocomposite membranes ranging from material development and characterization of properties to novel membrane applications and transport modeling. Authors are therefore invited to submit their latest results; both original papers and reviews are welcome.
Prof. Dr. Boguslaw Kruczek
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- polymer-based nanocomposites
- nanocomposites in inorganic matrix
- synthesis of nanocomposite membranes
- transport in nanocomposite membranes
- gas permeation
- reverse osmosis
- forward osmosis
- pervaporation
- membrane distillation
- fuel cells
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