An asymmetric integrally-skinned flat sheet membrane comprising a miscible blend of an aromatic polyethersulfone (PES) polymer and an aromatic polyimide polymer is used for gas separations such as hydrogen purification, separation of hydrogen and methane and to separate other gases and liquids. UV radiation may be applied to the surface of the membrane for improved properties.

A process for making a composite membrane comprising the steps: (i) providing a moving poriferous support (1) impregnated with a curable composition, wherein the composition is present in the pores of the support and on a surface of the support; (ii) scraping or squeezing the poriferous support and thereby removing at least some of the curable composition (2) from the surface of the support; and (iii) after performing step (ii), irradiating the support, thereby curing the composition present therein. Composite membranes are also claimed having a surface layer thickness of below 0,5 microns.

Provided is a technique for fabricating a novel thin membrane with a starting material such as a biocompatible compound that is not easily processible into a membrane, particularly a technique for fabricating a novel thin membrane of a composition that is gradually polymerized from a membrane surface into the membrane in the cross sectional direction of the membrane, and having, for example, different structures on the front and back of the membrane. The technique includes the steps of preparing a solution of a starting material compound; forming a thin membrane of the solution on a base material surface; and forming the organic polymer thin membrane through a polymerization reaction caused by irradiating the exposed surface of the thin membrane with a plasma or an electron beam.

The present invention relates to a micro-porous filtration membrane with performance enhancing multi-level macro-scopic cavities as well as a method for producing the same.

This patent is provided a method for producing a porous polymer film using vanadium oxide nanowires, and a porous polymer film obtained from the method. The method allows control of a uniform pore size and density through a simple process including the steps of: adding an ion exchanger to deionized water to perform acidification and adding a vanadate compound thereto to grow vanadium oxide nanowires by a sol-gel process; mixing the resultant solution of grown nanowires with a polymer solution to provide a mixed solution of nanowires; pouring the mixed solution of nanowires to a mold, followed by drying and curing, to form a film; and etching the resultant film with an etching solution to remove the vanadium oxide nanowires.

The present invention provides high permeance copolyimide membranes and methods for making and using these membranes for gas separations such as for hydrogen purification and for acid gas removal from natural gas. The random copolyimide polymers used to make the copolyimide membrane may be UV crosslinked to improve selectivity in separating mixtures of gases or in purifying liquids. The membranes may be fabricated into any known membrane configuration such as a flat sheet or a hollow fiber.

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a porous membrane having high water permeability and hydrophilicity, which is not easily affected by a treatment such as washing, the method including: preparing, as a substrate, a membrane having a plurality of pores, which includes a water-insoluble resin such as polysulfone and a water-soluble resin including a monomer unit of polyvinylpyrrolidone or a monomer unit of polyvinyl alcohol; and irradiating the substrate with an electron beam in the presence of an aqueous solvent to crosslink at least a part of the water-soluble resin.

A substrate surface may be modified with a polymer coating to render the surface suitable for plasma functionalization. The polymer coating is deposited onto the surface at ambient temperature to a thickness of less than 0.1 m. The polymer coating includes poly(p-xylylene) or a derivative thereof, and is capable of penetrating into pores of a porous substrate while no substantially altering the porosity of the substrate. The coated substrate is selected from a material lacking a primary or secondary aliphatic hydrogen atom.

A structure and method for carbon capture, e.g., in flue gas. An oxygen-terminated crown pore in graphene can be provided. Exposed carbon atoms on the pore edge can be bonded with oxygen to make a crown pore. When the CO.sub.2 is inside the pore, the electrostatic interaction becomes attractive because the positively charged carbon atom in CO.sub.2 is now exposed to negatively charged oxygen atoms on the crown pore edge. A favorable interaction between CO.sub.2 and the crown pore can be expected.

The present invention provides high flux aromatic alkyl-substituted polyethersulfone membranes and methods for making and using these membranes for gas separations. The membranes may be fabricated into any known membrane configuration including a flat sheet or a hollow fiber. The present invention also provides high selectivity UV cross-linked aromatic alkyl-substituted polyethersulfone membranes and methods for making and using these membranes for gas separations.