The present invention provides a polymer functional film obtained by polymerizing and curing a composition including (A) a styrene-based monomer represented by Formula (HSM); (B) a crosslinking agent represented by Formula (CL); and (C) a polymerization initiator represented by Formula (PI-1) or (PI-2), and a method for producing the same: ##STR00001## in which R.sup.1 represents a halogen atom or N.sup.+(R.sup.2)(R.sup.3)(R.sup.4)(X.sub.1.sup.?); n1 represents an integer from 1 to 10; here, R.sup.2 to R.sup.4 each independently represent a particular substituent; X.sub.1.sup.? represents an organic or inorganic anion; L.sup.1 represents an alkylene group or an alkenylene group; Ra, Rb, Rc and Rd each independently represent a particular substituent; n2 and n4 each independently represent an integer from 1 to 10; X.sub.2.sup.? and X.sub.3.sup.? each independently represent an organic or inorganic anion; and R.sup.5 to R.sup.10 each represent a hydrogen atom or a particular substituent.

The further advancement of membrane separation processes requires the development of more selective membranes. In this study, membranes that take inspiration from biological systems and use multiple functionalities of unique chemical design to control solute transport through chemical factors in addition to steric factors are detailed. Specifically, copolymer materials tailor-made for the generation of nanofilters that possess a high density of well-defined pores lined by azido moieties allowed for the generation of chemically-patterned mosaic membranes in a rapid manner through the use of printing devices. By engineering the composition of the reactive ink solutions used for chemical functionalization, large areas of patterned membranes were generated in seconds rather than hours. Charge mosaic membranes were used as an example of this novel platform.

A polymer fiber formed of statistical copolymers, each of which contains zwitterionic repeat units and hydrophobic repeat units, the zwitterionic repeat units constituting 20-75 wt % of the statistical copolymer and the hydrophobic repeat units being characterized in that a homopolymer formed thereof has a glass transition temperature above room temperature. Also disclosed is a fibrous membrane containing such polymer fibers in which greater than 90% of the polymer fibers are each independently rib bon-shaped fibers or wrinkly fibers. A method of preparing such a fibrous membrane is disclosed as well.

Disclosed herein are a series of terpolymers, comprising hydrophobic, anionic, and cationic repeat units; and their use in anti-fouling coatings and highly fouling-resistant membrane filters whose selectivity can be controlled through the modulation of the polymer composition. Also provided are methods of purifying compositions such as peptides and proteins, or methods of decontaminating or removing an organic solute from water using the membrane filters of the invention.

The present invention provides a composite membrane suitable for liquid-liquid filtration/reverse osmosis. The invention also provides a copolymer useful in the composite membrane, the copolymer comprising an anchoring repeating unit and a foulant-repelling repeating unit, as well as methods for preparing the composite membrane and copolymers. In a preferred embodiment, a copolymer (P [SBMA-co-HEMA]) is synthesized via the free radical copolymerization of a zwitterionic monomer of sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA) and an anchoring monomer of hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate (HEMA).

A thin film composite membrane (TFC) includes an active layer on a support. The active layer includes at least 8 barrier layers of star-polymers each having at least three linear polymers attached at a central core. Each of the barrier layers has a thickness between 5 and 50 nm, and the barrier layers have alternating charge.

The invention relates to a composite or a composite membrane consisting of an ionomer and of an inorganic optionally functionalized phyllosilicate. The isomer can be: (a) a cation exchange polymer; (b) an anion exchange polymer; (c) a polymer containing both anion exchanger groupings as well as cation exchanger groupings on the polymer chain; or (d) a blend consisting of (a) and (b), whereby the mixture ratio can range from 100% (a) to 100% (b). The blend can be ionically and even covalently cross-linked. The inorganic constituents can be selected from the group consisting of phyllosilicates or tectosilicates.

Disclosed is a method of preparing a filtration membrane. The method includes providing a copolymer solution by dissolving a statistical copolymer in a mixture of a co-solvent and a first organic solvent, coating the copolymer solution onto a porous support layer to form a polymeric layer thereon, coagulating the polymeric layer on top of the support layer to form a thin film composite membrane, and immersing the thin film composite membrane into a water bath to obtain a filtration membrane. Also disclosed are a filtration membrane prepared by the method, and a process of filtering a liquid using the filtration membrane thus prepared.

In one aspect, the disclosure relates to system for recovering ammonia and phosphorus from a waste stream, methods of using the system to precipitate phosphorus as vivianite and to separate ammonia from total organic carbon in the waste stream, methods of modifying a nanofiltration membrane to exhibit selectivity for ammonia passage relative to total organic carbon passage, and compositions including fertilizers produced using recovered ammonia, phosphorus, and optionally potassium from the waste stream. 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 disclosure.

A membrane including a block copolymer is presented. The block copolymer includes at least one block A including structural units having a formula (I), and at least one block B including structural units having a formula (II). A hollow-fiber membrane for hemodialysis or hemofiltration, and associated block copolymer are also presented.