Membranes including functionalized carbon nanotubes, nanodiamonds and/or graphene oxide immobilized in or on the membranes are disclosed. The membranes including the immobilized nanocarbons increase interactions with water vapor to improve desalination efficiency in membrane distillation. The membranes may be deployed in all modes of membrane distillation such as air gap membrane distillation, direct contact membrane distillation, vacuum membrane distillation and other separations.

Membranes are described that may include aligned carbon nanotubes coated with an inorganic support layer and a polymeric matrix. Methods of membrane fabrication are described that may include coating an aligned carbon nanotube array with an inorganic support layer followed by infiltration with a polymeric solvent or solution. The support carbon nanotube membrane may have improved performance for separations such as desalination, drug delivery, or pharmaceuticals.

The invention is an improved method of making an improved carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane in which a precursor polymer (e.g., polyimide) is pyrolyzed at a pyrolysis temperature to form a CMS membrane that is cooled to ambient temperature (about 40° C. or 30° C. to about 20° C.). The CMS membrane is then reheated to a reheating temperature of at least 250° C. to 400° C. to form the improved CMS membrane. The CMS have a novel microstructure as determined by Raman spectroscopy. The improved CMS membranes have shown an improved combination of selectivity and permeance as well as stability for separating light hydrocarbon gas molecules such as C.sub.1 to C.sub.6 hydrocarbon gases (e.g., methane, ethane, propane, ethylene, propylene, butane, butylene).

The present invention refers to a surface coating of commercial polyamide (PA) membranes with graphene oxide (GO) using a technology that involves spin-coating with specific sequence of low and high rotation, interface phenomena provided by a set of materials containing ethyl alcohol in high concentration, as well as morphological characteristics and customized surface chemistry of GO, among other conditions that allow a differentiated technology to obtain an effective coating of GO on PA membrane.

An electrospun polymer nanofibrous membrane that provides high filtering efficiency and excellent porosity is disclosed herein. The membrane may be treated with one or more antimicrobial or antiviral agents. The treatment may preferably be a coating of one or more antiviral agents on the surface of the membrane. Alternatively, one or more antiviral agents may be impregnated into the membrane. The membrane may additionally or alternatively be impregnated with one or more metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The membrane has a high filtering efficiency and sufficient porosity to provide breathability characteristics. In some embodiments, the membrane is suitable for use in making facemasks and respirators that are highly resistant to infectious pathogens and/or other small particulates. In some embodiments, the membrane is suitable for use in HVAC applications. In some embodiments, the membrane is suitable for use in removal of VOCs and CO.sub.2 in conjunction with a carbon nanofiber membrane.

An improved method for concentrating dispersions of graphene oxide, coating a substrate with a layer of a graphene oxide solution, and producing a supported graphene membrane stabilised by controlled deoxygenation; and graphene-based membranes that demonstrate ultra-fast water transport, precise molecular sieving of gas and solvated molecules, and which show great promise as novel separation platforms.

Disclosed herein are porous asymmetric silicon membranes. The membranes are characterized by high structural stability, and as such are useful as anode components in lithium ion batteries.

The disclosure provides composite membranes for use in water purification and filtration.

The purpose is to produce a molded filter body using graphene having water passage holes with a desired size by an easy process.

A method for producing a molded filter body having a layer of graphene 2 as a filter medium, includes the steps of: forming a layer of a support 5 on a surface of graphite 1; forming support water passage holes in the layer of the support 5; peeling the layer of the support 5 from the graphite 1 in a state of attaching the layer of graphene 2 on the surface of the graphite 1 to the layer of the support 5; and holding the layer of graphene 2 by heating at a low temperature for a predetermined time in the air containing oxygen at 160 to 250° C. and forming graphene water passage holes.

The present application relates to a fuel flow system. In particular, the application relates to a fuel flow system for an aircraft. The fuel flow system has a fuel conduit having a fuel inflow and a fuel outflow along which a fuel/water mix is configured to flow from the fuel inflow to the fuel outflow. The fuel conduit is fluidly communicable with a fuel tank. A peripheral conduit surrounds at least part of the fuel conduit. A water-permeable member is disposed between the fuel conduit and the peripheral conduit. The water-permeable member enables water from the fuel/water mix to flow through the water-permeable member from the fuel conduit into the peripheral conduit, but at least substantially prevents liquid fuel from the fuel/water mix from doing so.