A filtration membrane, suitably for water filtration, comprising a porous substrate layer and an active layer arranged over at least a part of the substrate layer. The active layer has a lamellar structure comprising at least two layers of two-dimensional material. The two-dimensional material comprises graphene or a derivative thereof. There is also provided a method for producing filtration membranes and filtration devices containing the filtration membranes.

A porous ultra-thin polymer film has a film thickness of 10 nm-1000 nm. A method of producing the porous ultra-thin polymer film includes dissolving two types of mutually-immiscible polymers in a first solvent in an arbitrary proportion to obtain a solution; applying the solution onto a substrate and then removing the first solvent from the solution applied onto the substrate to obtain a phase-separated ultra-thin polymer film that has been phase-separated into a sea-island structure; and immersing the ultra-thin polymer film in a second solvent which is a good solvent for the polymer of the island parts but a poor solvent for a polymer other than the island parts to remove the island parts, thereby obtaining a porous ultra-thin polymer film.

A hollow fiber (HF) membrane incorporating molybdenum trioxide (MoO.sub.3) nanoparticles. The membrane may be composed of PPSU hollow fibers that are coated or encrusted with MoO.sub.3 nanoparticles and can be made by dry-wet spinning. The hollow fiber membranes containing MoO.sub.3 nanoparticles remove lead, cadmium or other heave metals from waste water and are resistant to attachment of bacteria and fouling.

Embodiments described herein relate generally to graphene oxide membranes for fluid filtration and more specifically to graphene oxide membranes having tunable permeability, rejection rate, and flux. Some embodiments of the graphene oxide membranes disclosed herein are characterized as having a flux of at least about 2.510.sup.4 gallons per square foot per day per psi with a 1 wt % lactose solution at room temperature, and a lactose rejection rate of at least 50% with a 1 wt % lactose solution.

An oil fence including an oil filtration membrane includes: a floating member floating on a surface of water; and an oil filtration membrane connected to the floating member, allowing the water to pass therethrough, and rapidly collecting materials such as oil or a hazardous and noxious substance included in the water.

Disclosed herein are composite membranes comprising an omniphobic substrate having a reentrant structure. The omniphobic substrate comprises a plurality of pores, the plurality of pores forming the reentrant structure. The omniphobic substrate further comprises a surface, the surface being coated with a dual functional layer that is hydrophilic in air and oleophobic under water, such that the composite membrane has a top portion and a bottom portion, the top portion comprising the coated surface of the omniphobic substrate, such that the top portion of the composite membrane is hydrophilic in air and oleophobic under water and the bottom portion of the composite membrane is omniphobic. The composite membrane can be antiwetting and/or antifouling in the presence of a hydrophobic contaminant, an amphiphilic contaminant, or a combination thereof. The composite membranes can be used for membrane distillation of a contaminated brine solution.

Methods and apparatus for forming apertures in a solid state membrane using dielectric breakdown are provided. In one disclosed arrangement a plurality of apertures are formed. The membrane comprises a first surface area portion on one side of the membrane and a second surface area portion on the other side of the membrane. Each of a plurality of target regions comprises a recess or a fluidic passage opening out into the first or second surface area portion. The method comprises contacting all of the first surface area portion of the membrane with a first bath comprising ionic solution and all of the second surface area portion with a second bath comprising ionic solution. A voltage is applied across the membrane via first and second electrodes in respective contact with the first and second baths comprising ionic solutions to form an aperture at each of a plurality of the target regions in the membrane.

The present disclosure relates to a porous liquid or a porous liquid enzyme that includes a high surface area solid and a liquid film substantially covering the high surface area solid. The porous liquid or porous liquid enzyme may be contacted with a fluid that is immiscible with the liquid film such that a liquid-fluid interface is formed. The liquid film may facilitate mass transfer of a substance or substrate across the liquid-fluid interface. The present disclosure also provides methods of performing liquid-based extractions and enzymatic reactions utilizing the porous liquid or porous liquid enzyme of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure relates to a porous liquid or a porous liquid enzyme system that includes a high surface area solid and a liquid film substantially covering the high surface area solid. The porous liquid or porous liquid enzyme may be contacted with a fluid that is immiscible with the liquid film such that a liquid-fluid interface is formed. The liquid film may facilitate mass transfer of a substance or substrate across the liquid-fluid interface. The present disclosure also provides methods of performing liquid-based extractions and enzymatic reactions utilizing the porous liquid or porous liquid enzyme of the present disclosure. The present disclosure also provides methods for selecting the components of the porous liquid or a porous liquid enzyme system and methods of self-replenishing the used liquid coating.

A process for preparing an ion-exchange membrane having a textured surface profile comprising the steps (i) and (ii): (i) screen-printing a radiation-curable composition onto a membrane in a patterned manner; and (ii) irradiating and thereby curing the printed, radiation-curable composition; wherein the radiation-curable composition has a viscosity of at least 30 Pa.Math.s when measured at a shear rate of 0.1 s.sup.1 at 20 C.