An anti-microbial metal coating may be applied to filter membranes for use in actively depressing microbial viability in filtration applications. The anti-microbial metal coating may be applied to substrates that are considered to be sensitive to damage by conventional metal coating techniques or resistant to metal bonding. The coating may be applied from a salt absorbed to the substrate in solution, converted to a reducible form with a conversion agent, and reduced to active metal format through a low temperature plasma treatment.

The present disclosure relates to, inter alia, a modified surface comprising an optically active monomer, a polymeric material having a surface onto which the optically active monomer is covalently bound. In one aspect, a membrane comprising an optically active monomer, a poly(aryl sulfone) membrane having a surface onto which the optically active monomer is covalently bound. The present disclosure also relates to a method of modifying a surface, the method comprising applying sufficient energy to a surface to induce covalent bonding with an optically active monomer, and contacting the optically active monomer with the surface. In one aspect, a method of modifying a surface of a poly(aryl sulfone) membrane is disclosed. In another aspect, a method of synthesizing an optically active monomer is disclosed. In one aspect, a method of filtration of chiral compounds is disclosed.

The present disclosure provides a method for treating the surface of a microporous polymeric membrane, comprising immersing a microporous polymeric membrane in a liquid; and applying ultrasonic waves to the microporous polymeric membrane immersed in the liquid.

A porous membrane obtainable by a process comprising curing a composition comprising: (i) cross-linking agent(s) comprising at least one ligand group; (ii) inert solvent(s); (iii) polymerization initiator(s); and (vi) optionally monomer(s) other than component (i) which are reactive with component (i); wherein the composition satisfies the following equation: Z=wt(i)/(wt(i)+wt(iii)+wt(iv)) wherein: Z has a value of at least 0.6; wt(i) is the number of grammes of component (i) present in the composition; wt(iii) is the number of grammes of component (iii) present in the composition; and wt(iv) is the number of grammes of component (iv) present in the composition.

The disclosure provides a method for producing a gas separation article, said gas separation article comprising: a gas separation membrane, optionally a support, and optionally an additional support said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a matrix comprising: a matrix material having a viscosity from 1 cP to 40000 cP, particles, said particles being free from functionalized carbon nanotubes, and optionally a solvent, b) contacting the matrix of step a) with a support comprising at least one side, said at least one side facing said matrix, thereby forming (i) a matrix side in contact with the support and (ii) a matrix side opposite the side in contact with the support, c) optionally contacting the matrix side opposite the side contacting the support with an additional support, d) subjecting said matrix being in contact with said support to one or more electric fields whereby the particles form particle groups in a plurality of substantially parallel planes, said particle groups in each of said plurality of substantially parallel planes being aligned substantially parallel with the one or more electric fields, e) fixating the matrix material so as to fixate the particle groups thereby forming a gas separation membrane, and f) optionally removing the support and/or the additional support.

The disclosure also provides a gas separation membrane obtainable by the aforementioned method as well as use thereof for separation of gases in a gas mixture.

The present invention aims to provide a porous separation membrane that does not suffer a significant decrease in the protein permeability even after long term use. The porous separation membrane has an asymmetric structure with a dense layer forming one surface layer and with a coarse layer forming the other surface layer, supports a biocompatible polymer, and meet the requirements (1) and (2) given below in surface analysis of a cross section containing the dense layer and the coarse layer performed by TOF-SIMS: (1) the minimum value of normalized intensity of the ion signal attributed to the biocompatible polymer in the coarse layer is 0.15 times or more of the maximum value, and (2) the normalized average intensity of the ion signal attributed to the biocompatible polymer in the dense layer is 2.0 times or more of the normalized average intensity of the ion signal attributed to carboxylic acid in the coarse layer.

The disclosure provides an improved process for preparing oleophobic fluoropolymers. The resulting fluropolymers were found to be effective in imparting hydrophobic and oleophobic properties to porous polymeric membranes such as PTFE. The treated PTFE membrane can reach an oleophobic level of 6 or above, (according to the AATCC-118-1997 oil repellency test method) with a low air flux loss.

An example porous composite membrane for solvent extraction is provided. The porous composite membrane includes a Janus membrane with a first side and a second side opposing the first side. The first side exhibits hydrophobic characteristics and the second side exhibits hydrophilic characteristics. At least one of the first side or the second side is sized to perform nondispersive membrane solvent extraction.

The present invention relates to an ion-selective composite membrane having a thickness of between 4 μm and 100 μm, comprising at least one inner layer disposed between two outer layers, wherein: —the outer layers are each formed of a first material comprising a network of nanofibres and/or crosslinked microfibres and pores with a diameter of between 10 nm and 10 μm, —the inner layer is formed of a second material comprising nanoparticles functionalized at the surface by charged groups and/or groups which become charged in the presence of water and having pores with a diameter of between 1 and 100 nm.

The present invention provides highly permeable and porous polybenzimidazole membranes, methods of making them, and their application as a high-performance membrane support for gas separation composite membranes. The polybenzimidazole membranes are bonded to a fabric substrate.