Pseudo-bottle-brush decorated thin-film composite desalination membranes with ultrahigh mineral scale resistance.

High water recovery is crucial to inland desalination but is impeded by mineral scaling of the membrane. This work presents a two-step modification approach for grafting high-density zwitterionic pseudo-bottle-brushes to polyamide reverse osmosis membranes to prevent scaling during high-recovery desalination of brackish water. Increasing brush density, induced by increasing reaction time, correlated with reduced scaling.

Microporous Polyethersulfone Membranes Grafted with Zwitterionic Polymer Brushes Showing Microfiltration Permeance and Ultrafiltration Bacteriophage Removal.

Virus removal from water using microfiltration (MF) membranes is of great interest but remains challenging owing to the membranes' mean pore sizes typically being significantly larger than most viruses. We present microporous membranes grafted with polyzwitterionic brushes (-dimethylammonium betaine) that combine bacteriophage removal in the range of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with the permeance of MF membranes. Brush structures were grafted in two steps: free-radical polymerization followed by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP).

Facile activation of sludge-based hydrochar by Fenton oxidation for ammonium adsorption in aqueous media.

Lately, there has been a growing interest in converting low-cost biomass residuals, including wastewater sludge, into char-like materials for various applications. In this research, ammonium (NH) adsorption and desorption potential of hydrochar activated via Fenton oxidation were systematically investigated. Hydrochar was prepared from domestic wastewater treatment plant sludge and activated by Fenton oxidation using different HO concentrations, HO/Fe ratios, and activation times.

Regiochemical Control in Triptycene Formation-An Exercise in Subtle Balancing Multiple Factors.

Reactions between 1,8-dichloroanthracenes with substituents in position 10 and -chloroaryne afford mixtures of 1,8,13- () and 1,8,16-trichlorotriptycenes (). The / ratio is dependent on these substituents. Electropositive substituents like SiMe and GeMe lead to preferred formation of the -isomer, whereas CMe groups exclusively afford the -isomer.