A method is described for forming a body having at least one through-going passage, said method has the steps of: a) providing a mixture comprising particles and at least one liquid pocket inside a curable matrix, b) subjecting said mixture to a first alternating voltage having a first frequency to form a body in which said at least one liquid pocket extends from a first surface of said body to a second surface of said body thereby forming at least one through-going passage lacking curable matrix, and c) curing said curable matrix into a cured matrix, wherein at least some of said particles are located at an interface between said at least one through-going passage comprising liquid and said cured matrix.

The invention is related to a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic attapulgite separation membrane, and a preparation method and use thereof. Monodispersed hydrophilic nanoparticulates are loaded on a surface of nanoparticles, to obtain a super-hydrophilic nanocomposite material with a micro-nanostructure. The nanocomposite material is dispersed in a mixed aqueous solution of polyacrylamide and methyl cellulose, to obtain a membrane-forming slurry after vigorous stirring. A disc-shaped porous support is infiltrated with water and placed on a horizontal surface, and then a certain volume of the membrane-forming slurry is slowly and uniformly drip-coated on a surface of the support, dried and sintered to obtain a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic microfiltration membrane layer.

The present invention relates to a method of producing block copolymer membranes in fat sheet geometry having a surface morphology comprising ordered, isoporous nanopores. The method comprises providing a polymer solution of at least one amphiphilic block copolymer in a solvent; applying the polymer solution onto a substrate to provide a cast polymer solution; applying an electrical field to the cast polymer solution in a direction substantially perpendicular to the cast polymer solution; and thereafter immersing the cast polymer solution into a coagulation bath thereby inducing phase inversion to produce an integrally asymmetrical block copolymer membrane in flat sheet geometry.

A purification device is provided. The purification device includes: an injection channel having an inlet provided on one end thereof; a purification channel and a discharge channel which branch off from the other end of the injection channel via a mesh part, and the remaining substance to be purified is discharged through the discharge channel; an ion-selective membrane contacting at least one side of the mesh part; and a buffer part arranged on the other side of the ion-selective membrane which is in contact with the mesh part, wherein the mesh part has an ion-selective coating layer formed on the surface thereof, and when an electric field is applied, an ion concentration polarization phenomenon occurs to the other end of the injection channel and to the adjacent portion of the mesh part, whereby an ion depletion zone is formed.

The invention is related to a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic attapulgite separation membrane, and a preparation method and use thereof. Monodispersed hydrophilic nanoparticulates are loaded on a surface of nanoparticles, to obtain a super-hydrophilic nanocomposite material with a micro-nanostructure. The nanocomposite material is dispersed in a mixed aqueous solution of polyacrylamide and methyl cellulose, to obtain a membrane-forming slurry after vigorous stirring. A disc-shaped porous support is infiltrated with water and placed on a horizontal surface, and then a certain volume of the membrane-forming slurry is slowly and uniformly drip-coated on a surface of the support, dried and sintered to obtain a super-hydrophilic/underwater super-oleophobic microfiltration membrane layer.

Disclosed is a polyvinylidene fluoride/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene blend microporous membrane and preparation method thereof, which belongs to the field of microporous membrane. The blend microporous membrane has good hydrophobicity, mechanical properties and permeability. The preparation method includes: preparing a suspension by polyvinylidene fluoride, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, antioxidant and diluent; then feeding the obtained suspension into a twin-screw extruder, and the cast membrane gel extruded from the outlet is directly injected into a metal mold for injection molding; the mold temperature and the outlet temperature of the extruder are the same, and the cavity surface of the mold has micro-prism array structure; then cooling the mold in aqueous medium to obtain a nascent gel membrane; drying the obtained nascent gel membrane in a freeze dryer after removal of the diluents by extraction. The prepared membrane can be used in the membrane separation technology such as membrane distillation.

A method of creating a hydrophobic polymer membrane surface includes depositing a polymer material onto a heated carrier, using the heated carrier, transporting the polymer material past an electrode field generator, generating an electric field adjacent the carrier, using the electric field to form a pattern in the polymer material to form a patterned polymer membrane, rinsing the patterned polymer membrane in a first bath, and setting the pattern into the patterned polymer membrane in a second bath.

The present invention provides in one aspect inexpensive and scalable methods of fabricating porous membranes comprising vertically aligned carbon nanotubes.

A method of creating a hydrophobic polymer membrane surface includes depositing a polymer material onto a heated carrier, using the heated carrier, transporting the polymer material past an electrode field generator, generating an electric field adjacent the carrier, using the electric field to form a pattern in the polymer material to form a patterned polymer membrane, rinsing the patterned polymer membrane in a first bath, and setting the pattern into the patterned polymer membrane in a second bath.

A method of preparing a graphene-based membrane is provided. The method may include providing a stacked arrangement of layers of a graphene-based material, wherein the layers of the graphene-based material define one or more nanochannels between neighboring layers, and varying an electrical charge on a surface of the layers of the graphene-based material defining the one or more nanochannels to control size selectivity and/or ionic selectivity of the graphene-based membrane. A graphene-based membrane and a method of separating ions from a fluid stream are also provided.