Described is a polyethylene membrane and in particular an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene member that provides a high air permeability and is hydrophobic. The membranes have small pores and are suitable for sterilization by exposure to gamma radiation. The membranes can be made by methods that involve one or more of stretching the membrane and grafting hydrophobic monomers onto the membrane surface. A perfluorinated monomer, such as perfluoro-n-octyl acrylate, can be grafted to one or more surfaces of the membrane. The membrane have a high flow rate compared to unstretched or ungrafted membranes.

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.

The invention proceeds from a filter device which is provided for stabilising a liquid, having at least one filter unit, a membrane filter unit, which has at least one filter element and at least one integrated stabiliser.

It is proposed that the filter unit has at least one further integrated stabiliser.

It is proposed in a further aspect of the invention that the filter device comprises at least one first precursor which is provided for forming the filter element at least partially, and the same first precursor is provided for forming the stabiliser at least partially.

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.

The present disclosure is related to a polymeric membrane having a first surface and a second surface and a wall extending between the first and second surface, the membrane comprising pores on the first and second surfaces and throughout the wall, the membrane comprising a modified surface, the modified surface comprising acrylate and/or methacrylate polymers and/or copolymers, wherein the modified surface extends at least over the first and/or the second surface, and over the pores of at least 50% of the thickness of the wall. Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a method for producing such a membrane as well as a use of the membranes as disclosed herein for purification of aqueous media such as in biopharmaceutical applications.

The present invention relates to a CO.sub.2 selective gas separation membrane and a method for preparing the gas separation membrane and the use thereof. The CO.sub.2 selective gas separation membrane comprises a gas permeable or porous support layer; and at least one gas permeable polymer layer, which is surface modified with polymer chains having CO.sub.2 philic groups, wherein the gas permeable polymer layer has a spatially controlled distribution of the CO.sub.2 philic groups on the surface thereof. The method of preparing the CO.sub.2 selective gas separation membrane, comprises the steps of: depositing at least one gas permeable polymer layer on a porous or gas permeable support layer to form a dense membrane, and surface modifying the dense membrane with polymer chains having CO.sub.2 philic groups, to obtain spatially controlled distribution of the CO.sub.2 philic groups on the surface thereof.

The present invention relates to CO.sub.2 capture from gas mixtures by use of gas separation membranes. In particular, the invention relates to a gas separation membrane comprising: a gas permeable or porous support layer; and at least one CO.sub.2 selective polymer layer comprising carbonic anhydrase (CA) enzymes fixed within the at least one CO.sub.2 selective polymer layer. The present invention also relates to the method of separating CO.sub.2 from a gas and to the use of the gas separation membrane.

Described herein is a composite comprising a graphene material and a sulfonated polymer material. The graphene/sulfonated polymer composite is coated onto a substrate to provide a selectively permeable membrane. The selectively permeable membranes of the present disclosure provide high moisture permeability and low gas permeability.

A pore-filled ion exchange polyelectrolyte composite membrane from which the surface ion exchange polyelectrolyte has been removed and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The ion exchange polyelectrolyte composite membrane exhibits low film resistance and low in-plane-direction swelling degree, and has a smaller film-thickness than a commercial film, and thus, can be used for various purposes. In addition, since the pore-filled ion exchange polyelectrolyte composite membrane is continuously manufactured through a roll-to-roll process, the manufacturing process is simple, and manufacturing costs can be greatly reduced.

The present disclosure provides an acryloyloxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (AC-PDMS)-based thin-film composite (TFC) membrane, and a preparation method and use thereof. In the preparation method, a simple ultraviolet (UV)-induced monomer polymerization strategy based on high UV reactivity among acryloyloxy groups is adopted to prepare the AC-PDMS-based TFC membrane. The high UV reactivity among AC-PDMS monomers can induce the rapid curing of a casting solution to enable the formation of an ultra-thin selective layer and the inhibition of pore penetration for a substrate. By optimizing a UV wavelength, an irradiation time, and a polymer concentration, the prepared AC-PDMS-based TFC membrane has a CO.sub.2 penetration rate of 9,635 GPU and a CO.sub.2/N.sub.2 selectivity of 11.5. The UV-induced monomer polymerization strategy based on material properties provides a novel efficient strategy for preparing an ultra-thin PDMS-based membrane, which can be used for molecular separation.