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Polymers
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Polymer-Based Separation Membranes
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Polymer-Based Separation Membranes

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Membranes and Films".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2022) | Viewed by 7515

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Zhe Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China
Interests: covalent organic frameworks (COFs); nanofiltration; polyamide membranes; desalination; ion separation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Membranes are of paramount significance to human activities and chemical industries. Membrane materials are essential to the membrane separation processes, as they would dominate both microstructures and functionalities of membranes, thus influencing separation performances. Benefitting from the great advancement of polymer science in the past few decades, polymeric membranes have found numerous applications in membrane separation fields. Membranes prepared from conventional polymers as well as newly emerged framework materials, such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs), exhibit excellent separation performances. Deepening the understanding of the structure–property relationship of polymeric membranes via either experimental study or molecular dynamics simulation would offer opportunities to tackle the long-lasting membrane performance trade-off.

This Special Issue will focus on the design, preparation, modification, and application of polymeric membranes. It contains various membrane processes, including, but not limited to, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, electrodialysis, membrane distillation, and pervaporation. Besides, adsorptive membranes as well as imprinted membranes for ions and molecules are also welcomed.

Dr. Zhe Zhang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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
  • novel materials
  • membrane preparation
  • membrane modification
  • water treatment
  • organic solvent nanofiltration
  • desalination
  • high-precision separation
  • adsorptive membrane
  • imprinted membranes

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4693 KiB  
Article
Free Volume and Permeability of Mixed Matrix Membranes Made from a Terbutil-M-terphenyl Polyamide and a Porous Polymer Network
by Cenit Soto, Javier Carmona, Benny D. Freeman, Laura Palacio, Alfonso González-Ortega, Pedro Prádanos, Ángel E. Lozano and Antonio Hernandez
Polymers 2022, 14(15), 3176; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14153176 - 3 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2251
Abstract
A set of thermally rearranged mixed matrix membranes (TR-MMMs) was manufactured and tested for gas separation. These membranes were obtained through the thermal treatment of a precursor MMM with a microporous polymer network and an o-hydroxypolyamide,(HPA) created through a reaction of 2,2-bis(3-amino-4-hydroxyphenyl)-hexafluoropropane (APAF) [...] Read more.
A set of thermally rearranged mixed matrix membranes (TR-MMMs) was manufactured and tested for gas separation. These membranes were obtained through the thermal treatment of a precursor MMM with a microporous polymer network and an o-hydroxypolyamide,(HPA) created through a reaction of 2,2-bis(3-amino-4-hydroxyphenyl)-hexafluoropropane (APAF) and 5′-terbutil-m-terfenilo-3,3″-dicarboxylic acid dichloride (tBTmCl). This HPA was blended with different percentages of a porous polymer network (PPN) filler, which produced gas separation MMMs with enhanced gas permeability but with decreased selectivity. The thermal treatment of these MMMs gave membranes with excellent gas separation properties that did not show the selectivity decreasing trend. It was observed that the use of the PPN load brought about a small decrease in the initial mass losses, which were lower for increasing PPN loads. Regarding the glass transition temperature, it was observed that the use of the filler translated to a slightly lower Tg value. When these MMMs and TR-MMMs were compared with the analogous materials created from the isomeric 5′-terbutil-m-terfenilo-4,4″-dicarboxylic acid dichloride (tBTpCl), the permeability was lower for that of tBTmCl, compared with the one from tBTpCl, although selectivity was quite similar. This fact could be attributed to a lower rigidity as roughly confirmed by the segmental length of the polymer chain as studied by WAXS. A model for FFV calculation was proposed and its predictions compared with those evaluated from density measurements assuming a matrix-filler interaction or ideal independence. It turns out that permeability as a function of FFV for TR-MMMs follows an interaction trend, while those not thermally treated follow the non-interaction trend until relatively high PPN loads were reached. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Separation Membranes)
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14 pages, 2344 KiB  
Article
Design and Fabrication of Membranes Based on PAN Copolymer Obtained from Solutions in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide
by Igor S. Makarov, Markel I. Vinogradov, Lyudmila K. Golova, Natalia A. Arkharova, Gulbarshin K. Shambilova, Valentina E. Makhatova and Meirbek Zh. Naukenov
Polymers 2022, 14(14), 2861; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14142861 - 14 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2306
Abstract
An original method is proposed for preparing highly concentrated solutions of PAN copolymer in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) and forming membranes for nanofiltration from these solutions. The high activity of the solvent with respect to the polymer provides short preparation time of [...] Read more.
An original method is proposed for preparing highly concentrated solutions of PAN copolymer in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) and forming membranes for nanofiltration from these solutions. The high activity of the solvent with respect to the polymer provides short preparation time of spinning solutions in comparison with PAN solutions obtained in other solvents. The use of the rheological approach made it possible to find the optimal concentration for obtaining membranes. The formation of PAN membranes from the obtained solutions is proposed by the rolling method. The morphology of the formed membranes depends on the method of removing the precipitant from the sample. The features of the formed morphology of PAN membranes were studied by scanning electron microscopy. It was revealed that the use of water as a rigid precipitant leads to the formation of a homogeneous and symmetric morphology in the membrane. The average pore sizes in the membrane have been obtained by porosimetry. The study of the separating properties of PAN membranes revealed noteworthy values of the permeability and rejection for the anionic dyes Orange II and Remazol Brilliant Blue (74 and 97%, respectively). The mechanical properties of PAN membranes from solutions in NMMO are not inferior to analogs formed from commercially used direct solvents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Separation Membranes)
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15 pages, 5097 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of a Modified Polyethersulfone Membrane with Anti-Fouling and Self-Cleaning Properties from SiO2-g-PHEMA NPs for Application in Oil/Water Separation
by Jun Yin
Polymers 2022, 14(11), 2169; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14112169 - 27 May 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2374
Abstract
To prepare anti-fouling and self-cleaning membrane material, a physical blending modification combined with surface grafting modification has been carried out; first, poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) grafted silica nanoparticles (SiO2-g-PHEMA NPs) were synthesized using surface-initiated activators regenerated by electron transfer atom [...] Read more.
To prepare anti-fouling and self-cleaning membrane material, a physical blending modification combined with surface grafting modification has been carried out; first, poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) grafted silica nanoparticles (SiO2-g-PHEMA NPs) were synthesized using surface-initiated activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP) and used as a blending modifier to fabricate a polyethersulfone (PES)/SiO2-g-PHEMA organic–inorganic membrane by the phase-inversion method. During the membrane formation process, hydrophobic PES segments coagulated immediately to form a membrane matrix, and the hydrophilic SiO2-g-PHEMA NPs migrated spontaneously to the membrane surface in order to reduce interfacial energy, which enhanced the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties of the PES/SiO2-g-PHEMA membrane. Importantly, the membrane surface contained abundant PHEMA segments, which provided active sites for further surface functionalization. Subsequently, the carboxyl-terminated fluorocarbon surfactant (fPEG-COOH) composed of hydrophilic polyethyleneglycol segments and low-surface-energy perfluorinated alkyl segments was synthesized via the esterification of fPEG with succinic anhydride. Lastly, the PES/SiO2-g-PHEMA/fPEG membrane was prepared by grafting fPEG-COOH onto surface of the PES/SiO2-g-PHEMA. Thus, a versatile membrane surface with both fouling-resistant and fouling-release properties was acquired. The PES/SiO2-g-PHEMA/fPEG membrane has a large oil–water flux (239.93 L·m−2·h−1), almost 21 times that of PES blank membrane and 2.8 times of the PES/SiO2-g-PHEMA membrane. Compared with the unmodified PES membrane, the flux recovery ratio increased from 45.75% to 90.52%, while the total flux decline ratio decreased drastically from 82.70% to 13.79%, exhibiting outstanding anti-fouling and self-cleaning properties. Moreover, the grafted fPEG segments on the membrane surface show excellent stability due to the presence of stable chemical bonds. The grafted segments remain at the surface of the membrane even after a long shaking treatment. This suggests that this PES/SiO2-g-PHEMA/fPEG membrane material has potential for application in oil/water separation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Separation Membranes)
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