A composite separation membrane is disclosed prepared by forming a separation layer on a surface of a porous support membrane, characterized in that the porous support membrane contains 50% by mass or more of polyphenylene ether; that the separation layer is constituted from a first separation layer and a second separation layer; that the first separation layer is formed with a thickness of from 50 nm to 1 m on the surface of the porous support membrane and is a sulfonated polyarylene ether copolymer which comprises a repeated structure of a specific hydrophobic segment and a specific hydrophilic segment; and that the second separation layer is formed with a thickness of from 1 nm to less than 50 nm on a surface of the first separation layer and is an alternately-layered product constituted from one or more kinds of ionomers.

An electrolyte membrane including (i) a porous mat of nanofibres, wherein the nanofibres are composed of a non-ionically conducting heterocyclic-based polymer, the heterocyclic-based polymer comprising basic functional groups and being soluble in organic solvent; and (ii) an ion-conducting polymer which is a partially- or fully-fluorinated sulphonic acid polymer. The porous mat is essentially fully impregnated with ion-conducting polymer, and the thickness of the porous mat in the electrolyte membrane is distributed across at least 80% of the thickness of the electrolyte membrane. Such a membrane is of use in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell or an electrolyser.

Described herein is a graphene and polyvinyl alcohol based multilayer composite membrane that provides selective resistance for solutes to pass the membrane while providing water permeability. A selectively permeable membrane comprising a crosslinked graphene with a polyvinyl alcohol and silica-nanoparticle layer that can provide 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.

Disclosed herein are asymmetric thin-film composite membranes and methods of making and using the same. Also included herein are asymmetric thin-film composite membranes for preventing and/or reducing microfouling or macrofouling. Additionally included herein are asymmetric thin-film composite membranes for preventing and/or reducing biofilm.

A method for preparing a nanoporous membrane includes alternatively repeating, on the surface of a porous substrate, the laminating of a hydrophilic homopolymer and the laminating of an amphiphilic block or graft copolymer to provide a polymer multilayer film in which the alternative laminate of the hydrophilic homopolymer and the amphiphilic block or graft copolymer is formed. The polymer multilayer film is annealed to form a microphase separated polymeric membrane. The laminating of a hydrophilic homopolymer and the laminating of a supramolecular structure compound are alternatively repeated, on the surface of the polymeric membrane, to form the alternative laminate of the hydrophilic homopolymer and the supramolecular structure compound.

The present invention is directed to nanofiltration (NF) composite membranes comprising at least one polymeric porous substrate layer (S) and at least one porous selfassembled supramolecular membrane layer (F); a method of preparing such composite membranes; method of separation/filtration/purification of heavy metal cations, inorganic anions, and organic small molecules by applying such composite membranes; as well as filter cartridges and filtration devices comprising said composite membranes.

A vesicle incorporate a transmembrane protein, the vesicle forming material including a mixture of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) and polyetheramine. The vesicle can generally withstand elevated temperature without substantial shrinkage of the diameter, which in turn results in maintenance of the water permeability virtually unaffected. Pluronic based vesicles have a large content of amino groups available on the surface illustrated by the larger zeta potential values available for crosslinking in the polyamide layer by chemical reaction with trimesoyl chloride (TMC).

Provided is a method for preparing a gas separation membrane, the method including forming a porous layer by coating a hydrophilic polymer solution on a porous substrate; and forming an active layer by coating a composition for forming an active layer including a polymer of Chemical Formula 1 on the porous layer,

##STR00001## wherein in Chemical Formula 1, n is the number of a repeating unit, and is an integer of 500 to 3,000, and R1 to R5 are the same as or different from each other, and each independently is hydrogen, an alkyl group, or (CO)R6, and R6 is an alkyl group, wherein the polymer of Chemical Formula 1 is included in an amount from 1% by weight to 5% by weight based on the composition for forming an active layer, and a gas separation membrane prepared using the same.

An apparatus is disclosed for separating and preserving biomolecules of a biological fluid sample. The apparatus includes an assembly having sides forming a hollow shape having a first opening at one end and second opening at the opposite end, a sample mixing chamber positioned adjacent the first opening within the assembly, the sample mixing chamber from which a flow of the biological fluid sample is actuated in a direction from the sample mixing chamber to the first matrix layer, the sample mixing chamber being in a direction downstream of the first opening, a first valve positioned between the sample mixing chamber and the first matrix layer, the first valve configured to control the flow to the first matrix layer, a first input in fluid communication with the sample mixing chamber and positioned upstream of the first valve, a second input positioned between the first matrix layer and the second matrix layer, and a second valve positioned between the second matrix layer and the second opening, the second valve configured to control the flow to the second matrix layer.

A co-extrusion die is configured to produce a multilayer extrusion comprising component layers of an electrochemical cell. The die comprises a plurality of inlet ports configured to receive a plurality of pressurized fluids comprising at least a first metallic ink, a second metallic ink, and a polymeric ink. A plurality of channels are configured to separately transport and shape the plurality of fluids from the plurality of inlet ports to a merge section, such that the plurality of fluids flow together in the merge section to form the multilayer extrusion comprising a polymeric membrane layer disposed between and in contact with a first metallic layer and a second metallic layer. A thickness of each layer within the merge section is controllable by adjustment of a pressure of the plurality of pressurized fluids. An outlet port is configured to output the multilayer extrusion onto a substrate.