Design, fabrication, and usage of a reactor are presented for synthesis of structured materials from a liquid-phase precursor by heating. The structured materials are particles, membranes or films of micro-porous molecular sieve crystals such as zeolite and meso-porous materials. The precursor solution and structured materials in the reactor are uniformly heated by a planar heater with characteristic heat transfer dimension in the range of 3 mm to 10 cm. A planar heater having width and length at least three times of the characteristic heat transfer dimension provides at least one surface of uniform temperature distribution for heating purposes. Heating is conducted over a temperature range of 20 to 300 C. The planar heater can be heated by electrical power of by thermal fluid.

Direct polymerization of lipid monomers or polymer scaffolding of non-lipid monomers coupled with irradiation or redox polymerization performed at neutral pH resulted in stabilized lipid assemblies. An initiator-buffer component and NaHS03 redox mixture polymerizes reactive lipid monomers at near neutral pH conditions to preserve functionality of reconstituted membrane proteins. Improved stability of black lipid membranes (BLMs) is attained by chemical cross-linking of polymerizable, hydrophobic and commercially available non-lipid monomers partitioned into the suspended lipid membranes, and by suspending the BLMs across low surface energy apertures. Substrate apertures having low surface energy modifiers with amphiphobic properties facilitated a reproducible formation of BLMs by promoting interactions between the lipid tail and the substrate material. In addition, polymeric lipid bilayer membranes were prepared by photochemical or redox initiated polymerization of polymerizable lipid monomers, and disposed onto supporting substrates for use in chromatography columns.

A permselective membrane includes a support membrane having selective permeability and a lipid membrane containing a channel substance, the lipid membrane being formed on a surface of the support membrane, wherein the support membrane has a permeation flux of 20 L/(m.sup.2.Math.h) or more and a desalination capacity of 1% to 20% at a pressure of 0.1 MPa.

Membranes, methods of making the membranes, and methods of using the membranes are described herein. The membranes can comprise a support layer, and a selective polymer layer disposed on the support layer. The selective polymer layer can comprise an oxidatively stable carrier and a borate additive dispersed within a hydrophilic polymer matrix. The oxidatively stable carrier can comprise a quaternaryammonium hydroxide carrier (e.g., a mobile carrier such as a small molecule quaternaryammonium in hydroxide, or a fixed carrier such as a quaternaryammonium hydroxide-containing polymer), a quaternaryammonium fluoride carrier (e.g., a mobile carrier such as a small molecule quaternaryammonium fluoride, or a fixed carrier such as a quaternaryammonium fluoride-containing polymer), or a combination thereof. The borate additive can comprise a borate salt, a boric acid, or a combination thereof. The membranes can exhibit selective permeability to gases. As such, the membranes can be for the selective removal of carbon dioxide and/or hydrogen sulfide from hydrogen and/or nitrogen.

A membrane structure for moving a gaseous object species from a first region having an object species first concentration, through the membrane structure, to a second region having an object species second concentration different from the first concentration is described. The membrane includes a supporting substrate having a plurality of pores therethrough, each of the plurality of pores defined by a first end, a second end and a surface of the supporting substrate extending between the first end and the second end as well as a nanoporous layer within the plurality of pores, wherein the nanoporous layer comprises a hydrophilic layer and a hydrophobic layer. The membrane also includes a liquid transport medium within the hydrophilic layer. The liquid transport medium includes a liquideous permeation medium and at least one enzyme within the liquideous permeation medium. The at least one enzyme is reinforced by at least one stabilizing component.

Disclosed herein is an electrolytic membrane with cationic ion or anionic ion conducting capability comprising crosslinked inorganic-organic hybrid electrolyte in a porous support, wherein the inorganic-organic hybrid crosslinked electrolyte is formed by chemical born formation between Linkers and Crosslinkers, wherein Linkers and/or Crosslinkers include at least one element from Si, P, N, Ti, Zr, Al, B, Ge, Mg, Sn, W, Zn, V, Nb, Pb or S.

The invention relates to a metallic membrane for nitrogen separation, the method of making the membrane and methods of using the membrane. The invention also relates to a metallic membrane for disassociation of nitrogen and subsequent reaction with hydrogen to produce ammonia at moderate conditions compared to a conventional Haber-Bosch process.

Disclosed is a process for manufacturing a membrane from a, amphiphilic block copolymer including a hydrophilic block and a hydrophobic block including functions capable of forming a bond with the hydrophilic block in a bath containing the copolymer in solution in an apolar organic solvent, for a sufficient time to enable the formation of non-covalent bonds between the hydrophilic block and the support and the immobilisation of a first layer of the copolymer on the surface of the support; followed by adding water to the bath, so as to give rise to the self-assembly of a second layer of copolymer on the first layer.

A peak intensity of a (004) plane is greater than or equal to 3 times a peak intensity of a (110) plane in an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by irradiation of X-rays to a membrane surface of an AFX membrane.

A peak intensity of a (002) plane is greater than or equal to 0.5 times a peak intensity of a (100) plane in an X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by irradiation of X-rays to a membrane surface of the ERI membrane.