Titanium dioxide/sulfonated graphene oxide/silver nanoparticle composite membrane and its preparation method and application are disclosed. Mixing graphene oxide, sodium chloroethanesulfonate, and sodium hydroxide uniformly in the water, and then adding concentrated nitric acid to obtain sulfonated graphene oxide; mixing the aqueous solution of said sulfonated graphene oxide with the aqueous solution of silver nitrate, stirring in the dark, then adding ascorbic acid, and continuing to stir to obtain a silver nanoparticle/sulfonated graphene oxide composite material; dispersing said silver nanoparticle/sulfonated graphene oxide composite material in water, and then deposited on said titanium dioxide nanorods arrays by vacuum deposition, and vacuum dried to obtain titanium dioxide/sulfonated graphene oxide/silver nanoparticle composite membrane. The membrane possessed photocatalytic effect under UV light and special wettability: super-hydrophobic oil under water/super-hydrophobic under oil, which could in situ separation and degradation of oil/water emulsion.

Provided herein are methods for making a freeze-cast material having a internal structure, the methods comprising steps of: determining the internal structure of the material, the internal structure having a plurality of pores, wherein: each of the plurality of pores has directionality; and the step of determining comprises: selecting a temperature gradient and a freezing front velocity to obtain the determined internal structure based on the selected temperature gradient and the selected freezing front velocity; directionally freezing a liquid formulation to form a frozen solid, the step of directionally freezing comprising: controlling the temperature gradient and the freezing front velocity to match the selected temperature gradient and the selected freezing front velocity during directionally freezing; wherein the liquid formulation comprises at least one solvent and at least one dispersed species; and subliming the at least one solvent out of the frozen solid to form the material.

The multi-layered membrane (100) for separating oil and water includes a porous top layer (110), a porous bottom layer (130), and a particulate middle layer (120) positioned between the top layer (110) and the bottom layer (130), the middle layer (120) being hydrophobic and adapted for adsorbing oil, such as trace amounts of oil, that may pass through the top layer (110). The top layer (110) and the bottom layer (130) are hydrophilic and oleophobic. While the membrane (100) does not require any external pressure other than the gravitational forces exerted on the oil/water mixture W to drive the filtration of the oil/water mixture W through the membrane (100), the filtration can be driven by a vacuum or other type of external pressure.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing separation membrane for water treatment, separation membrane manufactured thereby, and a water treatment method using the separation membrane. More specifically, the present invention relates to: a method for manufacturing separation membrane for water treatment, made of electrically conductive metal or non-metal materials, which can enhance the membrane performance by reducing membrane contamination during water treatment and replace separation membrane made of polymer materials; separation membrane manufactured thereby; and a water treatment method using the separation membrane.

The present invention relates to a method for the production of a porous ceramic body, the method comprises the following steps: (i) selecting a ceramic powder; (ii) selecting a binder comprising a pre-ceramic polymer; (iii) mixing the ceramic powder from step (i) with the binder from step (ii) providing a ceramic composition; (iv) coating a porous support with the ceramic composition providing a ceramic coated porous support; (v) heating the ceramic coated porous support to a temperature between 500 C.-1500 C. producing the porous ceramic body.

A monolithic separation membrane structure comprises a substrate, a first support layer and a separation membrane. The substrate is composed of a porous material and including a plurality of through holes. The first support layer is formed on an inner surface of the plurality of through holes. The separation membrane arranged in the first support layer. The first support layer includes an aggregate material having alumina as a main component, an inorganic binder have titania as a main component, and a sintering additive having at least one of silica and magnesia as a main component.

The present disclosure relates to a transport mechanism apparatus for transporting at least one of a gas or a fluid. The transport mechanism may have an inlet, an outlet and an engineered cellular structure forming a periodic nodal surface, which may include a triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure. The structure is formed in a layer-by-layer three dimensional (3D) printing operation to include cells propagating in three dimensions, where the cells include non-intersecting, continuously curving wall portions having openings, and where the opening in the cells form a plurality of flow paths throughout the transport mechanism from the inlet to the outlet, and where portions of the cells form the inlet and the outlet.

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.

An evaporative cooling system includes a porous ceramic body with a plurality of dry channels and a plurality of wet channels. The plurality of dry channels are configured to inhibit transfer of water vapor into the dry channels and include a barrier layer that includes a roughened layer with a features size less than 1000 nm and a hydrophobic chemical modification disposed on the roughened layer. The plurality of wet channels are configured to allow transfer of water vapor.

The invention relates to a multilayer metallic or ceramic membrane device, comprising a macroporous carrier layer including pores having a pore diameter of more than 50 nm, and at least one mesoporous intermediate layer disposed thereon, including pores having a pore diameter of 2 nm to 50 nm. The membrane device according to the invention furthermore comprises at least one microporous cover layer disposed on the mesoporous intermediate layer, including pores having an average pore diameter of 0.3 nm to 1.5 nm, comprising graphite oxide or few-layer graphene oxide or graphite or few-layer graphene. In an advantageous embodiment, the cover layer comprises between 5 and 1000 layers of graphene oxide. In an advantageous embodiment, the cover layer can comprise between 5 and 1000 layers of partially reduced graphene oxide or graphene as a result of the at least partial reduction of the graphene oxide. The multilayer, chemically and mechanically stable and temperature-resistant membrane device according to the invention, comprising the functional cover layer thereof including microporous graphene oxide or graphene, is advantageously suitable for use in water separation or purification, or for gas separation.