The present disclosure provides a porous polymeric membrane that is coated with a cross-linked polymerized monomer. The coating on the porous polymeric membrane has a charge when it is immersed in an organic liquid. The coated porous polymeric membrane, a filter utilizing the membrane, and a method for treating an organic liquid used for photoresist with the coated porous polymeric membrane to remove metal contaminants from the organic liquid are disclosed.

Rapid evaporation of water for desalination and dewatering using nanobubbles and micro-droplets is disclosed. Warm nanobubbles of air are injected into seawater or another water source to be treated, and the normal stasis of the nanobubbles is disrupted with ultrasonic energy. The nanobubbles implode and violently recombine into microbubbles. Energized by the effects of the nanobubble state change, these energetic, relatively high surface area microbubbles bubbles quickly rise to the surface of the water, creating an aerosol of micro-water droplets above the surface that is drawn into a dry, warm stream of air and rapidly evaporates, precipitating out salt crystals. The air is then cooled with a chiller, condensing the moisture in the air into fresh water.

A novel fibrous membrane comprises at least one substrate layer comprising at least 80% by weight of microfibers that carry positively charged and/or negatively charged functional groups, and at least one layer of filtration material attached to the substrate layer, wherein the layer of filtration material comprises at least 80% by weight of nanofibers that carry negatively charged and/or positively charged functional groups. The fibrous membrane is able to remove or reduce the concentration of bacteria, viruses and heavy metals while maintaining relatively high water flow. A filter comprising the fibrous membrane and a method for manufacturing the fibrous membrane are also provided.

A semiconductor process wastewater treatment system and a semiconductor process wastewater treatment method using the same are disclosed. The disclosed semiconductor process wastewater treatment system may comprises: a processing unit configured to receive semiconductor process wastewater and treats the semiconductor process wastewater through a plurality of operations; and a membrane filtration tank arranged separately from the processing unit, the membrane filtration tank having a ceramic nano-membrane for filtering the semiconductor process wastewater which has passed through the processing unit, wherein the ceramic nano-membrane may include a carbon-based nano-material. The ceramic nano-membrane may include a graphene-based nano-material as the carbon-based nano-material.

Disclosed are polyimide blends and methods of making and using same. The disclosed polyimide blends are prepared by first blending an ionic polymer and a poly(amic acid) to form a poly(amic acid) precursor, followed by cyclization. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.

An article that can be used for biomaterial capture comprises (a) a porous substrate; and (b) borne on the porous substrate, a polymer comprising interpolymerized units of at least one monomer consisting of (1) at least one monovalent ethylenically unsaturated group, (2) at least one monovalent ligand functional group selected from acidic groups, basic groups other than guanidino, and salts thereof, and (3) a multivalent spacer group that is directly bonded to the monovalent groups so as to link at least one ethylenically unsaturated group and at least one ligand functional group by a chain of at least six catenated atoms.

A composition is disclosed comprising a sulfonated styrenic block copolymer (SSBC) having an ion exchange capacity (IEC) of at least 0.5 meq/g; and at least one compound which reacts with the SSBC forming a cross-linked SSBC. The compound is selected from: (i) a cross-linking agent, (ii) a metal cation, and (iii) a non-sulfonated polymer. A film prepared from the composition containing the cross-linked SSBC has a toughness in wet state measured after 1 week of 1.2 to 8 MJ/m.sup.3; and a tensile stress in wet state measured after 1 week of 3.2 to 8 MPa, according to ASTM D412. The film can be used as a water 10 purification membrane or an antimicrobial protection layer.

A semiconductor process wastewater treatment system and a semiconductor process wastewater treatment method using the same are disclosed. The disclosed semiconductor process wastewater treatment system may comprises: a processing unit configured to receive semiconductor process wastewater and treats the semiconductor process wastewater through a plurality of operations; and a membrane filtration tank arranged separately from the processing unit, the membrane filtration tank having a ceramic nano-membrane for filtering the semiconductor process wastewater which has passed through the processing unit, wherein the ceramic nano-membrane may include a carbon-based nano-material. The ceramic nano-membrane may include a graphene-based nano-material as the carbon-based nano-material.

An ultrafiltration/nanofiltration membrane with gas-tunable pore size is provided. This membrane comprises an active layer arranged between two porous support layers, wherein the active layer is formed of randomly arranged cellulose nanocrystals, wherein pores are defined in the active layer by the free spaces existing between the randomly arranged cellulose nanocrystals, and wherein chains of a CO.sub.2-responsive polymer are grafted on the surface of the cellulose nanocrystals. There are also provided methods for filtering a feed using the membrane, for tuning the apparent pore size/MWCO/charge of the membrane, for cleaning the membrane, and for manufacturing the membrane.

Disclosed herein are composite films comprising a plurality of nanostructured metal oxide crystals dispersed within a proton conducting polymer phase, wherein the plurality of nanostructured metal oxide crystals have an average particle size of from 1 nm to 20 nm, and wherein the composite film comprises from 20% to 90% by volume of the plurality of nanostructured metal oxide crystals relative to the composite film. The composite film can have a proton conductivity of 10.sup.−8 S/cm or more at a temperature of 100° C. or more.