A filter membrane includes carbon nanotubes and carbon nitride nanoparticles. Inter-particle atomic interactions between the carbon nanotubes and the carbon nitride nanoparticles bind the carbon nanotubes and the carbon nitride nanoparticles together. A filter cartridge includes such a filter membrane disposed within an outer housing between a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet such that fluid passing through the outer housing between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet passes through the filter membrane. Such filter membranes may be formed by dispersing carbon nanotubes and carbon nitride nanoparticles in a liquid to form a suspension, and passing the suspension through a filter to deposit the nanotubes and nanoparticles on the filter. Liquid may be filtered by causing the liquid to pass through such a filter membrane.

A monolithic separation membrane structure comprises a porous monolithic substrate and a separation membrane. The monolithic substrate includes a first end surface, a second end surface and a plurality of through-holes respectively passing from the first end surface to the second end surface. The separation membrane is formed on an inner surface of the respective plurality of through-holes. The surface roughness Ra of the separation membrane is no more than 1 micrometer and the thickness of the separation membrane is no more than 5 micrometers.

The present disclosure provides compositions comprising anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles functionalized with hydrophilic groups. The anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles comprise linked arrays of charged silica nanoparticles, each linked array have at least one linear dimension of from about 100 nm to about 1200 nm and the anisotropic chain-like silica nanoparticles each in have a diameter of from about 10 nm to about 500 nm. These compositions are superoleophobic in the presence of water, e.g., when submerged in water. Also provided are layered coatings comprising these compositions, substrates comprising the layered coatings, articles comprising the layered coatings, methods of filtering a mixture of water and an oil using the compositions described herein, and methods of preparing a superoleophobic coating on a substrate using the compositions described herein.

Zeolite membrane sheets for separation of mixtures containing water are provided, as well as methods for making the same. Thin, but robust, zeolite membrane sheets having an inter-grown zeolite crystal film directly on a thin, less than 200 micron thick, porous support sheet free of any surface pores with a size above 10 microns. The zeolite membrane film thickness is less than about 10 microns above the support surface and less than about 5 microns below the support surface. Methods of preparing the membrane are disclosed which include coating of the support sheet surface with a seed coating solution containing the parent zeolite crystals with mean particle sizes from about 0.5 to 2.0 microns at loading of 0.05-0.5 mg/cm2 and subsequent growth of the seeded sheet in a growth reactor loaded with a growth solution over a temperature range of about 45 C. to about 120 C.

The present disclosure provides an activated carbon-based all-carbon membrane (ACM), which is formed by using activated carbon as a base material and graphene as a crosslinking agent for connection, and can stably exist independent of a substrate. The membrane surface pore structure can be adjusted by the addition proportion of graphene, and the membrane surface pore size can be adjusted from micron-scale to nano-scale. The preparation method of ACM comprises uniformly mixing and then filtering an activated carbon dispersion and a graphene dispersion, then the graphene and the activated carbon are assembled on the membrane filter substrate. The membrane can be used in the fields such as water and air purification, chemical catalysis, and energy reservation.

Described herein is a cordierite membrane coated on a monolith substrate formed from cordierite. The membrane coating is formed from cordierite particles which have been processed to have a median particle size diameter of between 1 and 3 microns with a narrow particle size distribution suitable for forming a cordierite membrane on a cordierite monolith substrate. After the cordierite membrane is formed on the cordierite monolith substrate, the cordierite membrane monolith has a pore size of less than 1 micron.

Disclosed herein is a complex generator including a hydrophilic fiber membrane coated with an adsorption material. Electrical energy is generated in such a manner that the adsorption material is adsorbed onto a polar solvent in some region of the hydrophilic fiber membrane by asymmetrical wetting of the polar solvent for the hydrophilic fiber membrane.

Zeolite membrane sheets for separation of mixtures containing water are provided, as well as methods for making the same. Thin, but robust, zeolite membrane sheets having an inter-grown zeolite crystal film directly on a thin, less than 200 micron thick, porous support sheet free of any surface pores with a size above 10 microns. The zeolite membrane film thickness is less than about 10 microns above the support surface and less than about 5 microns below the support surface. Methods of preparing the membrane are disclosed which include coating of the support sheet surface with a seed coating solution containing the parent zeolite crystals with mean particle sizes from about 0.5 to 2.0 microns at loading of 0.05-0.5 mg/cm2 and subsequent growth of the seeded sheet in a growth reactor loaded with a growth solution over a temperature range of about 45? C. to about 120? C.

A porous membrane separator for a secondary battery, comprising a separator substrate, a porous membrane formed on at least one surface of the separator substrate, and an adhesive layer formed on the porous membrane, wherein: the porous membrane contains non-conductive particles and a water-soluble maleimide-maleic acid copolymer including a specific structural unit (a) a structural unit (b); and the adhesive layer contains a particulate polymer having a glass transition temperature of 10? C. or higher and 110? C. or lower.

Mesoporous membranes have shown promising separation performance with a potential to lower the energy consumption, leading to a dramatic cost reduction. Recently, an extensive effort has been made on the design of membranes which brought a significant progress toward the synthesis of well-defined porous morphologies, most of which synthesized by surfactant-template methodology. Currently, the most well-designed state-of-the-art membranes using this technique are made from metals, polymers, carbon, silica, etc. In the present invention, we demonstrate mesoporous calcium-silicate particles having superior separation capacity and optimal permeability, thereby leading to reduced energy consumption for selective separation of gases/liquids and/or the combination thereof. We explore various methods to improve the calcium-silicate membranes properties by tuning pore density during the synthesis/aging process, while favoring the formation of uniformly distributed nanopores. Lowering particle density by controlling calcium to silicon ratio along with optimizing the surface area are essential in achieving our objective.