A control method for a water purifier includes establishing a first cleaning passage which communicates a scale inhibiting mechanism with an RO membrane element of the water purifier and through which the scale inhibiting mechanism cleans the RO membrane element for a first preset time. The method additionally includes establishing a draining passage which is connected to the scale inhibiting mechanism and through which liquid in the scale inhibiting mechanism is drained out, and establishing a second cleaning passage which is in communication with raw water and through which the RO membrane element is cleaned with the raw water for a second preset time.

To provide a permselective membrane that includes a coating layer constituted by a phospholipid bilayer, the coating layer being capable of withstanding the pressure applied during a water treatment and being resistant to detachment and a method for producing the permselective membrane. A permselective membrane comprising a membrane main body having permselectivity and a coating layer disposed on a surface of the membrane main body, the coating layer including a phospholipid bilayer including a channel substance, wherein the phospholipid bilayer includes phospholipids that are a first phospholipid including an acyl group constituted by a fatty acid including an unsaturated fatty acid and a second phospholipid including two acyl groups each constituted by a fatty acid that is a saturated fatty acid having 16 to 24 carbon atoms.

The present invention relates to a composite semipermeable membrane including: a substrate; a porous support layer disposed on the substrate; and a separation functional layer disposed on the porous support layer, in which the separation functional layer includes: a first layer including a crosslinked aromatic polyamide; and a coating layer existing on the first layer and including an aliphatic polyamide including a fluorine atom, and the composite semipermeable membrane has a proportion of the number of fluorine atoms to the total number of atoms of all elements of 0.5% or more and 8% or less, and has a ratio (N/O ratio) of the number of nitrogen atoms to the number of oxygen atoms of 0.8 or more and 1.3 or less.

The present disclosure describes a strategy to create self-healing, slippery self-lubricating polymers. Lubricating liquids with affinities to polymers can be utilized to get absorbed within the polymer and form a lubricant layer (of the lubricating liquid) on the polymer. The lubricant layer can repel a wide range of materials, including simple and complex fluids (water, hydrocarbons, crude oil and bodily fluids), restore liquid-repellency after physical damage, and resist ice, microorganisms and insects adhesion. Some exemplary applications where self-lubricating polymers will be useful include energy-efficient, friction-reduction fluid handling and transportation, medical devices, anti-icing, optical sensing, and as self-cleaning, and anti-fouling materials operating in extreme environments.

Electrically conductive membranes (ECMs) have been demonstrated in the literature as a promising tool to enhance the performance of membrane-based water/wastewater treatment technologies. Membrane surface functionalization with active conductive materials is a direct and effective approach to obtain membranes with electrically conductive properties. However, a general strategy that could be utilized to fabricate ECMs using any types of commercial membrane (e.g., reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, and microfiltration) as a support or any type of conductive material as active material is not available yet. To address this need, the subject matter described herein is a facile and low-cost polyethyleneimine/glutaraldehayde-based method for synthesis of electrically conductive membranes starting from a broad range of commercial membranes (i.e., SWC4+, ESPA3, NF 270, PSf 20 KDa, and 0.1 m PVDF membranes) by using graphite or other conductive materials, including but not limited to, carbon nanotubes, activated charcoal, reduced graphene oxide, and silver nanoparticles.

A membrane assembly is provided. The membrane assembly comprises a membrane having a first surface and an opposing second surface, and a layer of anti-fouling polymer selected from the group consisting of an optionally functionalized hyperbranched polyglycerol, a hyperbranched polyimine, a zwitterionic copolymer obtainable by polymerizing 2-methacryloyloxyethyl lipoate with at least one of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl) ammonium hydroxide or 2-methacryloyloxyethylphosphorylcholine, and combinations thereof arranged on the first surface of the membrane. A method of manufacturing a membrane assembly is also provided.

The present invention relates to an anti-fouling, semi-permeable membrane comprising a porous support layer, a thin film composite (TFC) layer formed on a surface of the support layer, and a cross-linked polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) layer formed on top of the TFC layer, wherein the cross-linked PVA layer is the reaction product of PVA and a cross-linking agent, said cross-linking agent being a polybasic acid comprising three or more acid groups or precursors thereof. The obtained membrane shows a high water flux and a low roughness suitable for an effective membrane notable for feed solution having a tendency of fouling the membrane.