A reinforced separator for alkaline hydrolysis includes a porous support, a first porous polymer layer contiguous with one side of the support and a second porous polymer layer contiguous with the other side of the support, characterized in that the maximum pore diameter at the outer surface of the first porous polymer layer PD.sub.max(1) and of the second porous polymer layer PD.sub.max(2) are different from each other and wherein a ratio between PD.sub.max(2) and PD.sub.max(1) is between 1.25 and 10.

A microporous polymeric composition including a matrix polymer having a fractional free volume of at least 0.1 and dispersed particles having a hypercrosslinked polymer.

This invention relates generally to a chitosan-graphene oxide membrane and process of making the same. The nanocomposite membrane can filter water and remove contaminants without fouling like other commercially-available polymer-based water filters. The membrane can be used as a flat sheet filter or can be engineered in a spiral filtration module. The membrane is scalable and tunable for many water contaminants including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, and other organic chemicals. The membrane uses chitosan, which is low-cost, renewable biopolymer typically considered to be a waste product and the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth, thus making the membrane an environmentally-friendly product choice.

The present invention relates to nanoparticles including a crystal structure-controlled zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) and a method of producing the same. Nanoparticles according to the present invention comprise: metal ions; and an organic ligand coupled to the metal ions, wherein the organic ligand includes an imidazolate-based organic ligand and an alkylamine-based organic ligand.

A polyimide mixture including a polyimide and an amino-containing silica particle is provided. The polyimide includes a repeating unit represented by formula 1: ##STR00001##
wherein Ar includes ##STR00002##
and A includes ##STR00003##
The amino-containing silica particle is mixed with the polyimide, and is obtained by the hydrolysis condensation reaction of an alkoxysilane shown in formula 2 and an alkoxysilane shown in formula 3 in the presence of a catalyst:
Si(OR.sup.1).sub.4formula 2,
(NH.sub.2Y).sub.mSi(OR.sup.2).sub.4-mformula 3,
wherein in formula 2, R.sup.1 is a C.sub.1-C.sub.10 alkyl group; and
in formula 3, Y is a C.sub.1-C.sub.10 alkyl group or a C.sub.2-C.sub.10 alkenyl group, R.sup.2 is a C.sub.1-C.sub.10 alkyl group, and m is an integer of 1 to 3.

In accordance with one aspect of the presently disclosed inventive concepts, a porous ceramic structure includes a three-dimensional printed structure having predefined features, where the three-dimensional structure has a geometric shape. The average length of the features may be at least 10 microns. The three-dimensional structure includes a ceramic material having an open cell structure with a plurality of pores, where the pores form continuous channels through the ceramic material from one side of the ceramic material to an opposite side of the ceramic material.

The present invention provides an intrinsically anti-microbial hollow fiber membrane for filtration of liquids. The membrane comprises a plurality of porous hollow bilayer membrane fibers wherein the liquid enters from outside of the fiber, passing through the porous membrane into the lumen of the fiber and coming out from the hollow ending of the fiber, wherein this configuration provides a liquid outside-in arrangement and retains the filtrate outside. It means that membrane of the invention has built in characteristics to act against microbes in order to provide the use with a safe liquid free from microbes. The outer side or outer wall of the hollow fibers may be configured to become hydrophobic whereas inner side or inner wall of the hollow fiber membrane may be configured to become hydrophilic to enhance the water permeability to a great extent. The hollow fiber membrane may be configured to give it an intrinsic anti-microbial capability. A device containing above said membrane has also been disclosed.

M(SiF.sub.6)(pyz).sub.3 (M=Cu, Zn, Co, or Ni) has a pore size between a size of H.sub.2 and a size of CO.sub.2, and thus exhibits prominent screening performance for H.sub.2/CO.sub.2. A strong interaction between Cu(SiF.sub.6)(bpy).sub.2 and a CO.sub.2 molecule can hinder the transport of the CO.sub.2 molecule. The above two MOFs both can achieve the H.sub.2/CO.sub.2 separation. By preparing a dense MSiF.sub.6/polymer layer, MSiF.sub.6 is uniformly dispersed in the polymer and is fixed, and subsequently, MSiF.sub.6 is converted into M(SiF.sub.6)(pyz).sub.3 or Cu(SiF.sub.6)(bpy).sub.2 by interacting with an organic ligand. Through vapor-induced in-situ conversion, MOF particles can be well dispersed without interface defects between the MOF particles and the polymer. Even at a doping amount of 80%, the mechanical flexibility and stability of the MMM can still be retained.

Silica particles bonded to polymer chains consisting of at least one polymer comprising at least one fluorinated styrene repeating unit comprising at least one proton-conducting group, optionally in the form of a salt, the bonding between the particles and each of the chains being carried out by an organic spacer group.

Described herein is a crosslinked graphene and biopolymer (e.g. lignin) based composite membrane that provides selective resistance for solutes while providing water permeability. The membrane may include optional additional functional additives in a crosslinked material matrix that provides enhanced salt separation from water. Methods for making such membranes, and methods of using the membranes for dehydrating or removing solutes from water are also described.