Articles including poly(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutyl methacrylate) or poly(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutyl acrylate), fluoropolymers that do not form perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) when they degrade and that exhibit unexpectedly good oil repellency, are described. A method of making a fluoropolymer-containing article includes depositing a fluoropolymer-liquid mixture onto porous filtration medium by contacting the porous filtration medium with a mixture comprising a fluoropolymer and a liquid to form the treated porous filtration medium; and removing the liquid. The fluoropolymer includes poly(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutyl methacrylate) or poly(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-heptafluorobutyl acrylate). Methods of using the article are further described.

The present invention relates to surface modifying agents for polymeric and/or textile materials, methods of making and/or using a surface modifying agent to modify and functionalize polymeric and/or textile materials, and/or methods of using surface modified or functionalized polymeric and textile materials, and/or products using or incorporating surface modified or functionalized polymeric and textile materials. For example, the surface modifying agent in precursor form can be styrene sulfonyl azide monomer, polymer or copolymer capable of undergoing a chemical reaction in the presence of heat or light to form one or more styrene sulfonated nitrene monomers, polymers or copolymers, which are capable of chemically reacting with the surface of a polymeric or textile material to endow a specific or desired chemical surface functionality to the surface of a polymeric or textile material. Furthermore, the present invention is possibly preferably directed to a surface modifying agent which comprises a styrene sulfonated nitrene monomer, polymer or polymer containing one or more nitrene functional groups, which are capable of chemically reacting via an insertion reaction into one or more carbon-hydrogen bonds on the surface of a polymeric or textile material in order to chemically attach a specific or desired chemical functionality to the surface of a polymeric or textile material.

Polymer-based membranes and methods for fabricating membranes are described. The methods include forming a casting solution featuring a plurality of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based solvent, and a polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-based modifying agent, dispersing the casting solution to form a first element, generating a plurality of active sites on a surface of the first element, and forming a polymer-based membrane by exposing the surface of the first element to a fluorosilane composition to form a fluorosilane layer on the surface, where the fluorosilane composition includes a silane compound having at least one alkyl substituent that includes between 9 and 21 fluorine atoms.

A superhydrophobic polypropylene porous film, including a polypropylene porous film substrate, titanium dioxide layers and a surface modifier layer, is disclosed. The titanium dioxide layers are deposited on the surface of the polypropylene porous film substrate by atomic deposition technology; a surface modifier is coated on the titanium dioxide layers; hydrophobic bonds are formed between the titanium dioxide layers and the surface modifier layer; the superhydrophobic polypropylene porous film has a water contact angle greater than 150 degrees, a rolling angle less than 10 degrees, an aperture of 0.1-0.4 μm, a porosity of 50%-80%, a tensile strength of 30-50 MPa, and an elongation at break of 10%-30%. The superhydrophobic polypropylene porous film maintains the chemical resistance, rigidity, and porosity of the polypropylene porous film, and has superhydrophobic properties and a good separation effect after working for 80 hours, thus greatly increasing the service life, and reducing operation costs and working costs in a membrane distillation process.

This invention relates to a method of separating oils and aqueous media. The method uses membranes comprising 2D phyllosilicate coatings. The invention also relates to membranes for use in said methods.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a membrane distillation module with excellent stability of water treatment ability over time as a result of wetting being controlled; and a membrane distillation apparatus comprising the same. Provided is a membrane distillation module that comprises a housing and multiple porous hollow fiber membranes, both ends of which are bonded and fixed to the housing, wherein: the water contact angle of the outer surfaces of the porous hollow fiber membranes is at least 90°; and a hydrophobic polymer adheres to at least some of the areas of the porous hollow fiber membranes that are not bonded and fixed.

A thin micro-porous membrane sheet and filtering device using it is presented. The membrane sheet includes a thin porous metal sheet of thickness between 20 and 200 μm with a porous ceramic coating of thickness less than 25 μm on at least one of its surfaces. The porous metal sheet has mean pore sizes at micro and sub-micrometer level and has a surface substantially free of pores greater than 10 micrometers. The ceramic coating layer may be made of particles with a mean particle size in a range of 10 to 300 nm and contains certain sintering promoters. The ceramic coating is sintered with the metal sheet in non-oxidizing environment at lower temperatures than typical ceramic membranes. The thin membrane sheet is used to filter fine particulates from micrometers to nanometers from a liquid or gas stream. The thin membrane sheet may be assembled into a filter device having high surface area packing density and straight mini-flow channels.

A superhydrophobic polypropylene porous film, including a polypropylene porous film substrate, titanium dioxide layers and a surface modifier layer, is disclosed. The titanium dioxide layers are deposited on the surface of the polypropylene porous film substrate by atomic deposition technology; a surface modifier is coated on the titanium dioxide layers; hydrophobic bonds are formed between the titanium dioxide layers and the surface modifier layer; the superhydrophobic polypropylene porous film has a water contact angle greater than 150 degrees, a rolling angle less than 10 degrees, an aperture of 0.1-0.4 μm, a porosity of 50%-80%, a tensile strength of 30-50 MPa, and an elongation at break of 10%-30%. The superhydrophobic polypropylene porous film maintains the chemical resistance, rigidity, and porosity of the polypropylene porous film, and has superhydrophobic properties and a good separation effect after working for 80 hours, thus greatly increasing the service life, and reducing operation costs and working costs in a membrane distillation process.

The present disclosure provides a metal-organic framework material/membrane composite material, a preparation method and a use thereof, which belongs to the technical field of water treatment. The method includes: mixing a membrane material with an alkali liquor, and performing a hydrolysis to obtain a hydrolyzed membrane; impregnating the hydrolyzed membrane in a metal salt aqueous solution and a framework organic solution in sequence, to form a metal-organic framework material/membrane composite material. In the composite material obtained by this method, the bonding strength between the membrane material and the metal-organic framework material is high, and it is not easy to separate them during the use and the composite material could be widely used. At the same time, the metal-organic framework material/membrane composite material obtained by this method has dual functionality, and thus could improve the efficiency of water treatment.

Described are methods of membrane distillation for processing organic liquids, hydrophobic distillation membranes useful for membrane distillation methods, and methods of preparing the hydrophobic distillation membranes.