Disclosed herein are composite membranes comprising an omniphobic substrate having a reentrant structure. The omniphobic substrate comprises a plurality of pores, the plurality of pores forming the reentrant structure. The omniphobic substrate further comprises a surface, the surface being coated with a dual functional layer that is hydrophilic in air and oleophobic under water, such that the composite membrane has a top portion and a bottom portion, the top portion comprising the coated surface of the omniphobic substrate, such that the top portion of the composite membrane is hydrophilic in air and oleophobic under water and the bottom portion of the composite membrane is omniphobic. The composite membrane can be antiwetting and/or antifouling in the presence of a hydrophobic contaminant, an amphiphilic contaminant, or a combination thereof. The composite membranes can be used for membrane distillation of a contaminated brine solution.

The present invention relates to a composite semipermeable membrane including a supporting membrane and a separation functional layer disposed on the supporting membrane, in which the separation functional layer comprises an aromatic polyamide, the aromatic polyamide has side chains and terminal groups, at least one of the side chains and terminal groups of the aromatic polyamide being an amino group, at least one of the side chains and terminal groups of the aromatic polyamide is a substituent having a structure represented by formula (1): NXY or formula (2): NXYZ, and in the aromatic polyamide, a content A of substituents having structures represented by formula (1) and formula (2) and a content B of amide groups satisfy 0.005?A/B?0.15.

A thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane includes a porous support with surfaces having thereon a hydrophilic self-assembled monolayer. An active layer on the support is sufficiently dense to remove an ionic species from a liquid.

The present invention relates to a preparation process for a thin film composite (TFC) membrane (hereinafter TFC membrane), and provides a method for the preparation of a membrane through a one-step process using a dual (double layer)-slot coating technique. In the dual (double layer)-slot coating process according to the present invention, a TFC membrane can be prepared by: forming a double-solution layer through a one-step process of performing simultaneous applying/contact of two immiscible solutions, in which two kinds of reactive organic monomers are dissolved, on a porous support; and synthesizing a selective layer through a crosslinking reaction between the organic monomers at an interface of the double layer.

The present disclosure is directed to biomimetic membranes and methods of manufacturing such membranes that include structural features that mimic the structures of cellular membrane channels and produce membrane designs capable of high selectivity and high permeability or absorptivity. The membrane structure, material and chemistry can be selected to perform liquid separations, gas separation and capture, ion transport and adsorption for a variety of applications.

The present invention provides an anion-exchange composite membrane comprising a copolymer containing a vinylbenzyl trialkylammonium salt repeating unit, a styrene repeating unit and a divinylbenzene derived repeating unit; an olefin additive; a plasticizer; and a polyvinyl halide polymer.

The anion-exchange composite membrane comprising a copolymer containing a vinylbenzyl trialkylammonium salt repeating unit, a styrene repeating unit and a divinylbenzene derived repeating unit; an olefin additive; a plasticizer; and polyvinylidene fluoride of the present invention not only displays low electrical resistance, excellent ion exchange capability, excellent ionic conductivity, excellent mechanical properties, excellent chemical properties, and processability, but also is easy to regulate its ion exchange capacity and ionic conductivity. Also, the composite membrane of the invention is easier to produce and cheaper to manufacture than the conventional anion-exchange composite membrane.

Provided is an ion exchange membrane including an ionic vinyl alcohol polymer having a cation exchange group or an anion exchange group. The ion exchange membrane 1 includes a porous support 3 and the ionic vinyl alcohol polymer. The porous support is provided, in a thickness direction from one surface thereof, with an impregnated layer 2 at least a part of which is impregnated with the ionic vinyl alcohol polymer. The ionic vinyl alcohol polymer includes an ionic vinyl alcohol polymer having an ion exchange group selected from a cation exchange group or an anion exchange group. The ion exchange membrane has a zeta potential value (?1) at one surface and a zeta potential value (?2) at the other surface, which are represented by the formula (1).
(|?1|)?|?2|)/|?1|<0.5 (|?1|)?|?2|)(1)

Disclosed is a composite material comprising a support member that has a plurality of pores extending therethrough, which pores are durably filled or coated with a non-crosslinked gel polymer. Also disclosed is a process for the preparation of the composite material, use of the composite material as a separation medium, and a filtering apparatus comprising the composite material.

A membrane can contain at least one substrate layer, wherein the substrate layer includes a plurality of substrate pores, and each of the substrate pores contains a plurality of nanotubes or nanowires positioned within the substrate pore. Such membranes can be incorporated into enclosures for various substances. The enclosures can be exposed to an environment, such as a biological environment (in vivo or in vitro), where the membrane can delay or not provoke an immune response from the environment. One or more substances within the enclosure can be released into the environment, one or more selected substances from the environment can enter the enclosure, one or more selected substances from the environment can be prevented from entering the enclosure, one or more selected substances can be retained within the enclosure, or combinations thereof. The enclosure can, for example, allow a sense-response paradigm to be realized.

The present invention relates to synthetic membranes and use of these synthetic membranes for isolation of volatile organic compounds and purification of water. The synthetic membrane includes a hydrophobic polymer layer located on a polymeric membrane support layer. The invention includes a method of isolating volatile organic compounds with the synthetic membrane by contacting a volatile organic mixture with the hydrophobic polymer layer of the synthetic membrane and removing volatile organic compounds from the polymeric membrane support layer of the synthetic membrane by a process of pervaporation. The invention also includes a method of purifying water with the synthetic membrane by contacting an ionic solution with the hydrophobic polymer layer of the synthetic membrane and removing water from the polymeric membrane support layer of the synthetic membrane by a process of reverse osmosis. The invention also relates to methods of isolating non-polar gases by gas fractionation.