A method for synthesizing a nanocomposite membrane, and a synthesized nanocomposite membrane made thereby. The method may include steps of preparing Fe.sub.3O.sub.4-tolylene di-isocyanate (TDI) nanoparticles by reacting Fe.sub.3O.sub.4 nanoparticles and TDI powder, preparing Fe.sub.3O.sub.4-TDI-TiO.sub.2 nanoparticles, sulfonating the Fe.sub.3O.sub.4-TDI-TiO.sub.2 nanoparticles, preparing a first polymer solution, dispersing the Fe.sub.3O.sub.4-TDI-TiO.sub.2SO.sub.3H nanoparticles into the first polymer solution to obtain a second homogenous solution, and casting and drying the second homogenous solution to obtain the nanocomposite membrane.

An oil-water separation membrane is described. The oil-water separation membrane comprises a porous metal sheet with a photocatalyst layer on one side and a layer of nanoparticles and a surfactant on the other side. The layer of nanoparticles and surfactant create a superoleophobic and superhydrophilic coating that allows passage of an aqueous phase and rejection of an oil phase. The photocatalyst layer, combined with UV irradiation, enables degradation of organic contaminants in the aqueous phase. The oil-water separation membrane may be used as part of an oil-water separation system, and a filtered water product may be recycled through the membrane to increase the removal of organic contaminants.

A stable high performance facilitated transport membrane comprising an asymmetric integrally-skinned polymeric membrane wherein the pores on the relatively porous, thin, dense skin layer of the membrane comprises a hydrophilic polymer such as chitosan or sodium alginate, a metal salt such as silver nitrate, or a mixture of a metal salt such as silver nitrate and hydrogen peroxide and the asymmetric integrally-skinned polymeric membrane comprises a relatively porous, thin, dense skin layer as characterized by a CO.sub.2 permeance of at least 200 GPU and a CO.sub.2 over CH.sub.4 selectivity between 1.1 and 10 at 50? C. under 50-1000 psig, 10% CO.sub.2/90% CH.sub.4 mixed gas feed pressure. The present invention further includes a method of making these membranes and their use for olefin/paraffin separations, particularly for propylene/propane and ethylene/ethane separations.

The purpose of this invention is to prepare lanthanum (La) supported tin oxide-titania (SnO.sub.2TiO.sub.2) nanoparticles in the presence of three different solvents (Ethyl acetate, Benzyl alcohol, Ethylene glycol) as directing medium, through sol-gel followed by hydrothermal method for nanofiltration system.

A hollow fiber (HF) membrane incorporating molybdenum trioxide (MoO.sub.3) nanoparticles. The membrane may be composed of PPSU hollow fibers that are coated or encrusted with MoO.sub.3 nanoparticles and can be made by dry-wet spinning. The hollow fiber membranes containing MoO.sub.3 nanoparticles remove lead, cadmium or other heave metals from waste water and are resistant to attachment of bacteria and fouling.

A nanocomposite membrane includes a macroporous polymer membrane having a plurality of pores. A plurality of metal nanoparticles are synthesized and immobilized within those plurality of pores. The nanoparticles are reduced and capped with a green reducing and capping agent such as green tea extract.

A method for producing a gas separation membrane, including the following steps: step(a): treating the surfaces of silica nanoparticles dispersed in a first solvent with a reactive functional group-containing compound, while nanoparticles are being dispersed in the solvent, to thereby prepare a first solvent dispersion of reactive functional group-modified silica nanoparticles; step(b): replacing the first solvent dispersion's dispersion medium of reactive functional group-modified silica nanoparticles prepared in step(a) with a second solvent without drying of dispersion medium, and then reacting functional group-modified silica nanoparticles with dendrimer-forming monomer or hyperbranched polymer-forming monomer in the second solvent's presence so that dendrimer or hyperbranched polymer is added to reactive functional group, to thereby prepare dendrimer- or hyperbranched polymer-bound silica nanoparticles; step(c): mixing dendrimer- or hyperbranched polymer-bound silica nanoparticles prepared in step(b) with a matrix resin; and step (d): applying mixture prepared in step(c) to a substrate, and then removing the solvent.

Gas separation membranes as may be used in separating gaseous materials from one another and methods of forming the membranes are described. The separation membranes include polymer-grafted nanoparticles (GNPs) as a platform and a relatively small amount of free polymer. The free polymer and the polymer grafted to the nanoparticles have the same chemical structure and similar number average molecular weights. The gas separation membranes can exhibit high ideal selectivity and can be used in a variety of applications, such as carbon capture.

The present disclosure relates to a membrane apparatus for selectively retaining and releasing target cations, such as lithium. The membrane apparatus comprises a cation exchange layer and an anion exchange layer that are coupled and configured for hydraulic communication with sufficient permselectivity to facilitate water splitting under an applied voltage. The cation exchange layer comprises a sorbing agent that has a target cation binding coefficient that is less than its hydrogen ion binding coefficient such that it may be efficiently regenerated by in situ produced hydrogen ions. Electrically regenerated ion exchange devices and methods are also described.

New carbon nanomaterials, preferably titanium carbide-derived carbon (CDC) nanoparticles, were embedded into a polyamide film to give CDC/polyamide mixed matrix membranes by the interfacial polymerization reaction of an aliphatic diamine, e.g., piperazine, and an activated aromatic dicarboxylate, e.g., isophthaloyl chloride, supported on a sulfone-containing polymer, e.g., polysulfone (PSF), layer, which is preferably previously prepared by dry/wet phase inversion. The inventive membranes can separate CO.sub.2 (or other gases) from mixtures of CO.sub.2 and further gases, esp. CH.sub.4, based upon the generally selective nanocomposite layer(s) of CDC/polyamide.