Developing electroactive membranes for filtration has gained importance owing to their effectiveness in mitigating the long-lasting issue of fouling faced with traditional membranes. Here, we ...developed thin electroactive metallic films on to stainless steel mesh (SSM) using electrodeposition method and evaluated their performance for microalgae harvesting via electro filtration. The effect of electrodeposition parameters on membrane formulation and operating parameters for electro filtration, both in continuous and intermittent modes, were evaluated and optimum values were obtained using response surface methodology (RSM). The optimal combination of electrodeposition parameters is 1000 μA/cm2 and 5 min for deposition current density and time, respectively. Whereas the electric field strength of 20 V/mm with an application time of 1 min is suggested to be the optimal combination of electro filtration parameters for maximized flux recovery and corresponding experimental rejection efficiency of more than 90%. Overall, this research contributes to a better understanding of the parameters governing electro-filtration and offers insights for improving the performance of membrane-based microalgae harvesting systems.
Display omitted
•Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to evaluate the effect of formulation parameters on electroconductive membranes.•Current density was found to be the most significant parameter in dictating membrane properties.•Intermittent mode showed better filtration performance during microalgae electrofiltration.•The RSM offers reliable insights to improve the performance of membrane facilitated microalgae electro filtration.
Maximizing the right stuff Park, Ho Bum; Kamcev, Jovan; Robeson, Lloyd M. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
06/2017, Letnik:
356, Številka:
6343
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Increasing demands for energy-efficient separations in applications ranging from water purification to petroleum refining, chemicals production, and carbon capture have stimulated a vigorous search ...for novel, high-performance separation membranes. Synthetic membranes suffer a ubiquitous, pernicious trade-off: highly permeable membranes lack selectivity and vice versa. However, materials with both high permeability and high selectivity are beginning to emerge. For example, design features from biological membranes have been applied to break the permeability-selectivity trade-off. We review the basis for the permeability-selectivity trade-off, state-of-the-art approaches to membrane materials design to overcome the trade-off, and factors other than permeability and selectivity that govern membrane performance and, in turn, influence membrane design.
Highly permselective and durable membranes are desirable for massive separation applications. However, currently most membranes prepared using nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) suffer from ...low permeability and a high fouling tendency due to the great challenges in a rational design and also practical approach for membrane optimization. Inspired by the natural Murray network from vascular plants, we developed a hierarchical membrane via a straightforward yet robust strategy, using isocyanate as a multifunctional additive. Thanks to the integrated functions of a phase separation regulator, blowing agent, cross-linker, and functionalization anchor of isocyanate, our strategy is featured as a perfect combination of a phase separation and chemical reaction, and it enables synchronous engineering of the membrane hierarchy on porosity and components. The representative membrane exhibits superior water permeance (334 L/m2·h·bar), protein retention (>98%), and antifouling ability (flux recover ratio ∼ 98%). This work highlights a versatile path for pursuing a highly enhanced performance of NIPS-made membranes, from the fancy perspective of Murray bionics.
Tailored design of high-performance nanofiltration (NF) membranes is desirable because the requirements for membrane performance, particularly ion/salt rejection and selectivity, differ among the ...various applications of NF technology ranging from drinking water production to resource mining. However, this customization greatly relies on a comprehensive understanding of the influence of membrane fabrication methods and conditions on membrane properties and the relationships between the membrane structural and physicochemical properties and membrane performance. Since the inception of NF, much progress has been made in forming the foundation of tailored design of NF membranes and the underlying governing principles. This progress includes theories regarding NF mass transfer and solute rejection, further exploitation of the classical interfacial polymerization technique, and development of novel materials and membrane fabrication methods. In this critical review, we first summarize the progress made in controllable design of NF membrane properties in recent years from the perspective of optimizing interfacial polymerization techniques and adopting new manufacturing processes and materials. We then discuss the property-performance relationships based on solvent/solute mass transfer theories and mathematical models, and draw conclusions on membrane structural and physicochemical parameter regulation by modifying the fabrication process to improve membrane separation performance. Next, existing and potential applications of these NF membranes in water treatment processes are systematically discussed according to the different separation requirements. Finally, we point out the prospects and challenges of tailored design of NF membranes for water treatment applications. This review bridges the long-existing gaps between the pressing demand for suitable NF membranes from the industrial community and the surge of publications by the scientific community in recent years.
This review article is devoted to bridging the conventional and newly-developed NF membranes with the potential environmental applications by systematically discussing the synthesis-property-performance relationships.
The emergence of polymers with intrinsic microporosity provides solutions for flexible gas separation membranes with both high gas permeability and selectivity. However, their applications are ...significantly hindered by the costly synthetic efforts, limited availability of chemical systems, and narrow window of microporosity sizes. Herein, flexible mixed matrix membranes with tunable intrinsic microporosity can be facilely fabricated from the coordination assembly of polymer brushes and coordination nanocages. Polymer brushes bearing isophthalic acid side groups can coordinate with Cu
to assemble into polymer networks crosslinked by 2 nm nanocages. The semi-flexible feature of the polymer brush and the high crosslinking density of the network prevent the network from collapsing during solvent removal and the obtained aerogels demonstrate hierarchical structure with dual porosity from the crosslinked polymer network and coordination nanocage, respectively. The porosity can be facilely tuned via the amount of Cu
by regulating the network crosslinking density and nanocage loadings, and finally, optimized gas separation that surpasses Robeson upper bound for H
/CO
can be achieved. The coordination-driven assembly protocol paves a new avenue for the cost-effective synthesis of polymers with intrinsic microporosity and the fabrication of flexible gas separation membranes.
Scaling up nanoporous graphene membranes Mi, Baoxia
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
06/2019, Letnik:
364, Številka:
6445
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Practical desalination membranes with nanoporous graphene will need new morphologies
Suitably engineered graphene-based materials could potentially be used to make water-separation membranes for ...applications such as desalination. Graphene-based materials with water-permeable pores can be made by creating either nanopores in graphene monolayers (see the figure, top) (
1
,
2
) or two-dimensional (2D) channels that form between nanosheets of graphene oxide (GO) (see the figure, middle) (
3
). Both approaches face challenges for scaling to practical membrane sizes on the meter scale. The former requires creating a high density of subnanometer pores (
4
) on a defect-free monolayer graphene sheet that has high out-of-plane mechanical strength (
5
), and materials meeting all these requirements have largely been limited to micrometer-scale lateral dimensions. On page 1057 of this issue, Yang
et al.
(
6
) report production of nanoporous graphene on the centimeter scale that can reject between 85 and 97% of the salt from saltwater.
Oil leakage is a global environmental issue and happens frequently, resulting in a waste of oil resources and even threatening the safety of marine creatures and humans. Because of unidirectional oil ...transportation performance, “oil-diode” Janus membranes have attracted lots of attention for oil/water separation. However, the hydrophobic side of traditional “oil-diode” Janus membrane is completely hydrophobic, resulting in an easy permeation of oil, which hampers light oil recycling. Herein, we provide a facile approach to develop “oil-diode” Janus membranes with the special wettable structure for fast oil refining. The material characteristics and surface wettability of the membranes that generate superimposed efforts are vital to fabricate “oil-diode” Janus membranes. Interestingly, the manufactured membranes exhibit extra-high oil intrusion pressure up to 12 kPa and present high permeance of about 2993 L m–2 h–1 bar–1 in separating stable water-in-oil emulsion containing surfactant and separation efficiency up to 99.6%, thereby showing promising potential in oil recovery and refining.
From 3D cell culture to organs-on-chips Huh, Dongeun; Hamilton, Geraldine A; Ingber, Donald E
Trends in cell biology,
12/2011, Letnik:
21, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
3D cell-culture models have recently garnered great attention because they often promote levels of cell differentiation and tissue organization not possible in conventional 2D culture systems. We ...review new advances in 3D culture that leverage microfabrication technologies from the microchip industry and microfluidics approaches to create cell-culture microenvironments that both support tissue differentiation and recapitulate the tissue–tissue interfaces, spatiotemporal chemical gradients, and mechanical microenvironments of living organs. These ‘organs-on-chips’ permit the study of human physiology in an organ-specific context, enable development of novel in vitro disease models, and could potentially serve as replacements for animals used in drug development and toxin testing.
Focus tunable, adaptive lenses provide several advantages over traditional lens assemblies in terms of compactness, cost, efficiency, and flexibility. To further improve the simplicity and compact ...nature of adaptive lenses, we present an elastomer-liquid lens system which makes use of an inline, transparent electroactive polymer actuator. The lens requires only a minimal number of components: a frame, a passive membrane, a dielectric elastomer actuator membrane, and a clear liquid. The focal length variation was recorded to be greater than 100% with this system, responding in less than one second. Through the analysis of membrane deformation within geometrical constraints, it is shown that by selecting appropriate lens dimensions, even larger focusing dynamic ranges can be achieved.
PDF