An article that can be used for biomaterial capture comprises (a) a porous substrate; and (b) borne on the porous substrate, a polymer comprising interpolymerized units of at least one monomer consisting of (1) at least one monovalent ethylenically unsaturated group, (2) at least one monovalent ligand functional group selected from acidic groups, basic groups other than guanidino, and salts thereof, and (3) a multivalent spacer group that is directly bonded to the monovalent groups so as to link at least one ethylenically unsaturated group and at least one ligand functional group by a chain of at least six catenated atoms.

A co-cast thin film composite flat sheet membrane is provided that comprises an asymmetric porous non-selective support layer with a thickness of 10-50 micrometers and an asymmetric integrally skinned polyimide-containing selective layer with a thickness of 5-40 micrometers on top of said support layer, wherein said asymmetric integrally skinned polyimide-containing selective layer comprises a porous non-selective polyimide-containing support layer with a thickness of 5-40 micrometers and a relatively porous, thin, dense, polyimide-containing top skin layer with a thickness of 0.02-0.2 micrometers.

Disclosed are fouling resistant filtration membranes comprising a polymeric thin-film membrane comprising a surface. Also disclosed are methods of modifying thin-film filtration membranes, thereby improving, for example, the anti-fouling properties of the membranes. Also disclosed are methods of purifying water using the disclosed membranes. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention.

A method for in situ production of antimicrobial filtration membranes that uses self-assembly of surfactants such as block copolymers as a template. The mesophase structure (for example hexagonal or lamellar) can be determined, and membrane pore size can be controlled in the nanometer range, by changing the block copolymer and the amounts of the components such as the block copolymer, aqueous solution, monomer, crosslinker, and initiator. The monomer phase cures in the template and there is no need for organic solvents and coagulation bath or other post-modification. As-synthesized membranes were found to have pore sizes with a narrow size distribution in the range of 3-4 nm with a molecular weight cutoff of 1500 g/mol and displayed both excellent fouling resistance and high permeance of water, vastly outperforming a conventional NIPS UF membrane. The monomer can comprise a quaternary ammonium group so that the membrane is antibacterial. The block copolymer can comprise hydrophilic blocks which form the surfaces of the membrane pores, rendering them hydrophilic.

Described herein are articles for separating gases. The article includes a selective layer consisting of a crosslinked amorphous fluorinated copolymer containing one or more types of fluorinated ring monomers, with crosslinking between the fluorinated copolymer chains. The crosslinking improves the mechanical properties of the fluoropolymer, thereby permitting use of polymer types which would otherwise be excessively brittle. The resulting crosslinked polymer membranes have superior selectivity and reliability performance compared with previous compositions known to the art. Methods for making and using the article described are also provided.

Photocurable compositions and methods of preparation and use of such compositions. More particularly, photocurable compositions useful for forming topographical features on surfaces such as membrane surfaces. Methods of forming topographical features on a membrane surface using photocurable compositions.

Disclosed are crosslinked copolymer network, comprising a copolymer, comprising a plurality of zwitterionic repeat units, and a plurality of a first type of hydrophobic repeat units; a plurality of crosslinking units; and a plurality of crosslinks; wherein each crosslinking unit comprises a first terminal thiol moiety and a second terminal thiol moiety; each hydrophobic repeat unit comprises an alkene; and each crosslink is formed from (i) the first terminal thiol moiety of a crosslinking unit and the alkene of a first hydrophobic repeat unit, and (i) the second terminal thiol moiety of the crosslinking unit and the alkene of a second hydrophobic repeat unit; and the method of making such cross-linked copolymer network. Also disclosed are the thin film composite membrane comprising the cross-linked copolymer network; and methods for using such thin film composite membrane.

A coated, thin-film composite membrane includes a porous support and a polyamide barrier layer in contact with the porous support. A fouling-resistant and antimicrobial layer of star polymers is in contact with the polyamide barrier layer. The star polymers included hydrophilic arms of about 40 mol % to about 80 mol % of neutral hydrophilic moieties, and about 60 mol % to about 20 mol % of antimicrobial functional groups.

A membrane obtainable from curing a composition comprising: (i) a curable compound comprising at least two (meth)acrylic groups and a sulphonic acid group and having a molecular weight which satisfies the equation:
MW<(300+300n) wherein: MW is the molecular weight of the said curable compound; and n has a value of 1, 2, 3 or 4 and is the number of sulphonic acid groups present in the said curable compound; and optionally (ii) a curable compound having one ethylenically unsaturated group; wherein the molar fraction of curable compounds comprising at least two (meth)acrylic groups, relative to the total number of moles of curable compounds present in the composition, is at least 0.25.

A method includes spreading a solution including a polyether and a photoinitiator onto a hydrophilic porous membrane, impregnating hydrophilic the porous membrane with the solution, and curing the solution located within the hydrophilic porous membrane by exposure to ultraviolet light to produce a composite membrane.