A carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane having improved separation characteristics for separating olefins from their corresponding paraffins is comprised of carbon with at most trace amounts of sulfur and a group 13 metal. The CMS membrane may be made by pyrolyzing a precursor polymer devoid of sulfur in which the precursor polymer has had a group 13 metal incorporated into it, wherein the metal is in a reduced state. The pyrolyzing for the precursor having the group 13 metal incorporated into it is performed in a nonoxidizing atmosphere and at a heating rate and temperature such that the metal in a reduced state (e.g., covalently bonded to carbon or nitrogen or in the metal state).

Disclosed herein are ceramic selective membranes and methods of forming the ceramic selective membranes by forming a selective silica ceramic on a porous membrane substrate.

The present invention relates to a method of preparing a perm-selective porous membrane and a method of separating gases using the prepared porous membrane. According to the present invention, a membrane is synthesized using a hierarchically structured alumina porous support by a counter diffusion method. During this synthesis, the diffusion rate of metal ions loaded on the porous support is controlled by controlling the pore size of the porous support, and the position at which the membrane is synthesized is controlled by synthesizing the membrane inside the support. This can increase the physical stability of the membrane and make the membrane thicker so as to ensure higher H.sub.2/CO.sub.2 separation factors.

Transitional metal oxide-coated mesoporous microstructures, uses therefor, and processes for making same are provided. The transitional metal oxide-coated mesoporous microstructures can be silica based, including MCM-41, MCM-45, MCM-48, SBA-15 and SBA-16. The microstructures can include microspheres. The mesoporous microstructures can be produced using a sol-gel process wherein the crystallization step in the sol-gel process is carried out at a low temperature, where the temperature can be 22 C. for example. The metal oxide can be titanium dioxide. The titanium dioxide can include titanium dioxide nanocrystals. The transitional metal oxide-coated mesoporous microstructures can be used in environmental applications, such as nanofiltration of contaminated water to remove pollutants.

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.

This invention relates to membranes that can be used to remove solutes from organic solutions. The invention also relates to methods of using said membranes and the use of said membranes to filter organic solutions. The membranes are thin graphene oxide (GO) laminate membranes.

Disclosed herein are ceramic selective membranes and methods of forming the ceramic selective membranes by forming a selective silica ceramic on a porous membrane substrate. Representative ceramic selective membranes include ion-conductive membranes (e.g., proton-conducting membranes) and gas selective membranes. Representative uses for the membranes include incorporation into fuel cells and redox flow batteries (RFB) as ion-conducting membranes.

Disclosed herein are ceramic selective membranes and methods of forming the ceramic selective membranes by forming a selective silica ceramic on a porous membrane substrate.

Disclosed herein are asymmetric multilayer carbon molecular sieve (CMS) hollow fiber membranes and processes for preparing the membranes. The processes include simultaneously extruding a core dope containing a polymer and suitable nanoparticles, a sheath dope, and a bore fluid, followed by pyrolysis of the extruded fiber.

A mineral membrane and method of making the same are disclosed. The mineral membrane may be made by exfoliating a mineral material to produce a membrane, and cross-linking the membrane.