Described herein are methods and compositions relating to tunable nanoporous coatings. In certain aspects, described herein are methods and compositions wherein a tunable nanoporous coating comprises a tunable nanoporous membrane which transitions from opaque to transparent upon the application of force, and from transparent to opaque after washing with a solvent.

A method of producing a silicalite membrane, which includes heating an aqueous solution that includes a dopant precursor and structure-directing template agents to form silicalite seeds incorporated with a dopant, depositing a buffer layer on a ceramic substrate prior to depositing the silicalite seeds on the buffer layer, contacting the ceramic substrate with a solution including the silicalite seeds to form a silicalite layer from the silicalite seeds on the ceramic substrate, and removing the structure-directing template agents to form the silicalite membrane, where the silicalite layer includes silicalite crystals incorporated with a dopant and each of the silicalite crystals has a hollow structure which forms the pores of the silicalite layer. The silicalite membrane includes a ceramic substrate having a buffer layer formed thereon, and a silicalite layer formed on the buffer layer, where the silicalite layer includes silicalite crystals incorporated with a dopant.

Porous liquid-filtering membranes having a repeatable distribution of pores of a small dimension are provided, as well as pillar templates that are used to produce such liquid filtering membranes. Also disclosed are methods of making and using the pillar templates to make porous liquid filtering membranes.

A method for in situ production of antimicrobial filtration membranes that uses self-assembly of surfactants such as block copolymers as a template. The mesophase structure (for example hexagonal or lamellar) can be determined, and membrane pore size can be controlled in the nanometer range, by changing the block copolymer and the amounts of the components such as the block copolymer, aqueous solution, monomer, crosslinker, and initiator. The monomer phase cures in the template and there is no need for organic solvents and coagulation bath or other post-modification. As-synthesized membranes were found to have pore sizes with a narrow size distribution in the range of 3-4 nm with a molecular weight cutoff of 1500 g/mol and displayed both excellent fouling resistance and high permeance of water, vastly outperforming a conventional NIPS UF membrane. The monomer can comprise a quaternary ammonium group so that the membrane is antibacterial. The block copolymer can comprise hydrophilic blocks which form the surfaces of the membrane pores, rendering them hydrophilic.

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a separating membrane mainly comprising a thermoplastic resin having high permeability. The present invention relates to a separating membrane including a thermoplastic resin, wherein the width of voids in the separating membrane is at least equal to 1 nm and at most equal to 1000 nm, and the curvature rate of the voids is at least equal to 1.0 and at most equal to 6.0.

Disclosed are a CHA zeolite membrane and a method of preparing the same, and more particularly, a CHA zeolite membrane having high capacity to separate CO.sub.2/N.sub.2 and CO.sub.2/CH.sub.4 even under wet conditions using a membrane produced using a synthetic precursor having a controlled ratio of Si and Al, a method of preparing the same, and a method of capturing and removing carbon dioxide using the membrane.

In production of a zeolite membrane complex, a starting material solution containing at least a structure-directing agent and FAU-type zeolite particles having an average particle diameter of 50 to 500 nm is prepared. Then, a support is immersed in the starting material solution to form a zeolite membrane on the support by hydrothermal synthesis, the zeolite membrane being composed of AFX-type zeolite. After that, the structure-directing agent in the zeolite membrane is removed.

A method for in situ production of antimicrobial filtration membranes that uses self-assembly of surfactants such as block copolymers as a template. The mesophase structure (for example hexagonal or lamellar) can be determined, and membrane pore size can be controlled in the nanometer range, by changing the block copolymer and the amounts of the components such as the block copolymer, aqueous solution, monomer, crosslinker, and initiator. The monomer phase cures in the template and there is no need for organic solvents and coagulation bath or other post-modification. As-synthesized membranes were found to have pore sizes with a narrow size distribution in the range of 3-4 nm with a molecular weight cutoff of 1500 g/mol and displayed both excellent fouling resistance and high permeance of water, vastly outperforming a conventional NIPS UF membrane. The monomer can comprise a quaternary ammonium group so that the membrane is antibacterial. The block copolymer can comprise hydrophilic blocks which form the surfaces of the membrane pores, rendering them hydrophilic.

Porous liquid-filtering membranes having a repeatable distribution of pores of a small dimension are provided, as well as pillar templates that are used to produce such liquid filtering membranes. Also disclosed are methods of making and using the pillar templates to make porous liquid filtering membranes.

Porous liquid-filtering membranes having a repeatable distribution of pores of a small dimension are provided, as well as pillar templates that are used to produce such liquid filtering membranes. Also disclosed are methods of making and using the pillar templates to make porous liquid filtering membranes.