Disclosed is a vesicle comprising polystyrene-polyacrylic acid (PS-PAA) block copolymer and an amphiphilic functional molecule. The vesicle is stable even at elevated temperatures and the amphiphilic functional molecule remains active. Also discloses is a selectively permeable membrane comprising a support layer and a selective layer incorporating the vesicles.

A porous membrane may be manufactured with a high content of filler material and a polymer binder. After forming the membrane, the membrane may be post processed to reform the polymer binder into a stronger yet still porous membrane. The post processing may include bringing the membrane above the melt temperature of the polymer or by immersing the membrane in a solvent. Photomicrographs show that the structure may change, yet the performance of the material in batteries and other electrochemical cells may remain the same or even improve.

A porous membrane may be manufactured with a high content of filler material and a polymer binder. After forming the membrane, the membrane may be post processed to reform the polymer binder into a stronger yet still porous membrane. The post processing may include bringing the membrane above the melt temperature of the polymer or by immersing the membrane in a solvent. Photomicrographs show that the structure may change, yet the performance of the material in batteries and other electrochemical cells may remain the same or even improve.

A process is provided for separation of light olefins and paraffins and particular for the separation of propylene and propane comprising sending at least one olefin/paraffin stream to a distillation column and a membrane unit to produce an olefin stream comprising at least 92 mol % olefin. In an embodiment of the invention where the membrane unit is placed downstream from the column which can produce propylene streams at polymer grade of over 99.5 mol % propylene.

An acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment means comprising polyethersulfone (PES) having dispersed therein hydroxy-sodalite (H-SOD) so as to form a membrane is described. The PES-H-SOD membrane is suitable for treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) by providing a filtration means to remove toxic chemicals, including but not limited to heavy metals. The invention extends to a method of manufacturing the acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment means.

A graphene-based membrane and a method of producing the same are disclosed. The graphene-based membrane may include a graphene-polymer composite, wherein the graphene-polymer composite may consist of an amine functionalized graphene and a polymer containing an anhydride group as a linker for linking the amine functionalized graphene to the polymer. The graphene-based membrane may be constructed of a single-layer. A method may include reacting a polymer containing an anhydride with an amine functionalized graphene in presence of a solvent to form an intermediate product; and thermal imidizing the intermediate product to form a graphene grafted polymer composite for use in fabricating a graphene-based membrane.

A microporous polymeric composition including a matrix polymer having a fractional free volume of at least 0.1 and dispersed particles having a hypercrosslinked polymer.

A method is disclosed for preventing carbon nanotube degradation in ionizable environments. The method includes immersing a porous thin-film nanotube (CNT)/polymer composite Joule heating element in an ionizable environment; and applying an alternating current at a frequency of at least 100 Hz to the porous thin-film nanotube (CNT)/polymer composite Joule heating element in the ionizable environment.

A lithium-generating system can include a lithium-containing source feed, a hardness reduction unit, and a bipolar electrodialysis or electrolysis unit. The lithium-containing source feed can provide a lithium-containing material. The hardness reduction unit can be configured to receive the lithium-containing material and reduce the hardness thereof yet still be over 10 ppm upon processing by the hardness reduction unit. The bipolar electrodialysis unit can process the lithium-containing material and generate an aqueous LiOH product. The hardness reduction unit is configured to produce a hardness level within a given hardness-reduced lithium-containing material to be within an upper operational limit of at least one bipolar membrane, in addition to being at a given hardness level of over 10 ppm. The lithium-generating system can further include components to facilitate production of Li.sub.2CO.sub.3 and/or LiOH.Math.H.sub.2O.

Disclosed herein are boron-nitride nanoparticle membranes and methods of manufacturing boron-nitride nanoparticle membranes. In an embodiment, a boron-nitride nanoparticle membrane includes a matrix and a plurality of one-dimensional boron-nitride nanoparticles disposed within the matrix, where he plurality of boron-nitride nanoparticles are configured for selective molecular transport through each of the plurality of one-dimensional boron-nitride nanoparticles.