High-Performance Zwitterionic Nanofiltration Membranes Fabricated via Microwave-Assisted Grafting of Betaine.

The thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane is a very important method in solving the water crisis. However, the fabrication and industrialization of high-performance NF membranes still remains challenging. In this work, zwitterionic NF membranes via microwave-assisted grafting of betaine was first proposed.

Novel Swelling-Resistant Sodium Alginate Membrane Branching Modified by Glycogen for Highly Aqueous Ethanol Solution Pervaporation.

A novel carbohydrate chain cross-linking method of sodium alginate (SA) is proposed in which glycogen with the branched-chain structure is utilized to cross-link with SA matrix by the bridging of glutaraldehyde (GA). The active layer of SA composite ceramic membrane modified by glycogen and GA for pervaporation (PV) demonstrates great advantages. The branched structure increases the chain density of the active layer, which compresses the free volume between the carbohydrate chains of SA.

A Novel Seeding Method of Interfacial Polymerization-Assisted Dip Coating for the Preparation of Zeolite NaA Membranes on Ceramic Hollow Fiber Supports.

A novel seeding method combining interfacial polymerization (IP) technique with dip-coating operation was designed for directly coating nanosized NaA seed crystals (150 nm) onto the micrometer-sized α-Al2O3 hollow fiber support, in which the polyamide (PA) produced by IP acted as an effective medium to freeze and fix seed crystals at the proper position so that the controlled seed layer could be accomplished. While a coating suspension with only 0.5 wt % seed content was used, a very thin seed layer with high quality and good adhesion was achieved through dip coating twice without drying between, and the whole seeding process was operated at ambient conditions.

Polypiperazine-amide Nanofiltration Membrane Modified by Different Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs).

In this work, three modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with carboxyl (MWCNT-COOH), hydroxyl (MWCNT-OH) and amino groups (MWCNT-NH), respectively, were added into the aqueous phase containing piperazine (PIP) to fabricate the nanocomposite nanofiltration (NF) membranes via interfacial polymerization. The influences of functional groups of MWCNTs on the performance of modified NF membrane were investigated. The MWCNTs were characterized by TEM, FT-IR and TGA; meanwhile, the properties of the membranes were evaluated by XPS, TEM, AFM and contact angle.