Hierarchical porous membranes suitable for use in oil/water separation processes are provided. The membranes described herein are particularly well suited for separating trace amounts of water (e.g., no greater than 3 wt % water content, no greater than 1 wt % water content, or 50-1000 ppm water) from oil in droplets less than 1 um in size. The membranes have a wide range of applications, including deep seep oil exploration, oil purification, and oil spill cleanup.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to filtration systems and methods for production of biologically-produced products, which may include pharmaceutical and/or protein products. Certain biomanufacturing systems described herein comprise a bioreactor (e.g., a perfusion bioreactor, a chemostat) and a filter probe comprising a filter bundle comprising a plurality of hollow fibers (e.g., longitudinally aligned hollow fibers). According to some embodiments, a center-to-center distance between any two hollow fibers within the fiber bundle at one or more points along a length of the fiber bundle is relatively large (e.g., greater than or equal to an average outer diameter of the hollow fibers of the fiber bundle, greater than or equal to 1.1 times a minimum diameter of the two hollow fibers). In some embodiments, the hollow fibers within the fiber bundle are arranged in an array (e.g., a hexagonal, linear, annular, or square array).

A porous membrane for use in an electroosmotic pump for pumping a fluid by electroosmotic transport, the porous membrane comprising: first and second opposite surfaces and a net fluid flow direction extending in the porous membrane between said opposite surfaces, wherein when a given amount of charge flows through the porous membrane from the first to the second opposite surface more electroosmotic transport of the fluid will occur than when the same amount of charge flows through the porous membrane from the second to the first, opposite surface.

A method for the repair of defects in a graphene or other two-dimensional material through interfacial polymerization.

The invention relates to a catalytic activation layer for use in oxygen-permeable membranes, which can comprise at least one porous structure formed by interconnected ceramic oxide particles that conduct oxygen ions and electronic carriers, where the surface of said particles that is exposed to the pores is covered with nanoparticles made from a catalyst, the composition of which corresponds to the following formula: A.sub.1-x-yB.sub.xC.sub.yO.sub.R where: A can be selected from Ti, Zr, Hf, lanthanide metals and combinations thereof; B and C are metals selected from Al, Ga, Y, Se, B, Nb, Ta, V, Mo, W, Re, Mn, Sn, Pr, Sm, Tb, Yb, Lu and combinations of same; and A must always be different from B. 0.01<x<0.5; 0<y<0.3.

The invention pertains to a polyaryl ether sulfone polymer solution [solution (SP)] comprising: at least one sulfone polymer [polymer (PSI)] having recurring units, wherein more than 50% moles, with respect to all the recurring units of polymer (PSI), are recurring units (R.sub.PSI) selected from the group consisting of those of formulae (R.sub.PSI-1) and (R.sub.PSI-2) herein below: (R.sub.PSI-1) (R.sub.PSI-2) wherein: each of E, equal to or different from each other and at each occurrence, is selected from the group consisting of those of formulae (E-1) to (E-3): (E-I) (E-II) (E-III) each R is independently selected from the group consisting of halogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, ether, thioether, carboxylic acid, ester, amide, imide, alkali or alkaline earth metal sulfonate, alkyl sulfonate, alkali or alkaline earth metal phosphonate, alkyl phosphonate, amine and quaternary ammonium; and j is zero or an integer of 1 to 4; is a bond or a divalent group optionally comprising one or more than one heteroatom; preferably T is selected from the group consisting of a bond, CH.sub.2, C(O), C(CH.sub.3).sub.2, C(CF.sub.3).sub.2, C(?CCI.sub.2), C(CH.sub.3)(CH.sub.2CH.sub.2COOH), and a group of formula: (A) at least one polar organic solvent [solvent (S)]; and at least one mixture of polyhydroxyl aliphatic alcohols having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms or derivatives thereof [mixture (PHA)], said mixture (PHA) comprising at least one ethylene glycol compound [compound (EthyGly)] and at least one glycerol compound [compound (Gly)], to its use for manufacturing membranes, and to membranes obtained therefrom.

##STR00001##

The problem addressed by the present invention is to provide a separation membrane with superior permeation performance and separation performance and having few occurrences of defects. The present invention relates to a separation membrane wherein: the separation membrane has a layer (I) with a thickness of 0.5-100 ?m; letting, in a cross-section in the direction of thickness of the layer (I), region a be a region with a depth of 50-150 nm from a surface (surface A), region b a region with a depth of 50-150 nm from the other surface (surface B), and region c a region with a thickness of 100 nm where the depth from both surfaces is the same, the average pore diameter Pa for region a and the average pore diameter Pb for region b are both 0.3-3.0 nm and the average pore diameter Pc for region c is 3.0 nm or less; and the percentage of open area Ha for region a, the percentage of open area Hb for region b, and the percentage of open area Hc for region c satisfy the following equations. 2Hc<Ha 2Hc<Hb

Membranes of the present disclosure possess very thin barrier layers, with high selectivity, high throughput, low fouling, and are long lasting. The membranes include graphene and/or graphene oxide barrier layers on a nanofibrous supporting scaffold. Methods for forming these membranes, as well as uses thereof, are also provided. In embodiments, an article of the present disclosure includes a nanofibrous scaffold; at least a first layer of nanoporous graphene, nanoporous graphene oxide, or combinations thereof on at least a portion of a surface of the nanofibrous scaffold; an additive such as crosslinking agents and/or particles on an outer surface of the at least first layer of nanoporous graphene, nanoporous graphene oxide, or combinations thereof.

A copolymer including a repeating unit represented by (I) wherein: Y is selected from: a carboxylic acid, sulfonic, phosphorous acid and phosphoric acid and their corresponding salt or ester; imino, amide, nitrile, hydrogen, hydroxyl and alkyl comprising from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; and R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, and R.sub.4 are independently selected from: hydrogen, alkyl groups comprising from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, and R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 may collectively form a ketone group or a 9, 9-fluorene group, and R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 may collectively form a ketone group or a 9, 9-fluorene group; R.sub.5 and R.sub.6 are independently selected from: a bond and an alkylene group comprising from 1 to 6 carbon atoms; R.sub.7 is selected from: hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, aralkyl and heteroaryl groups comprising from 1 to 8 carbon atoms which may be unsubstituted or substituted with carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid and phosphoric acid and their corresponding salt or ester, imino and amide; and X and X are independently selected from: a carboxylic acid, sulfonic acid and phosphoric acid and their corresponding salt or ester, imino and amide; nitrile, hydrogen, alkyl having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms and alkoxy having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms. ##STR00001##

A method is described of producing a catalyst-containing composite oxygen ion membrane and a catalyst-containing composite oxygen ion membrane in which a porous fuel oxidation layer and a dense separation layer and optionally, a porous surface exchange layer are formed on a porous support from mixtures of (Ln.sub.1?xA.sub.x).sub.wCr.sub.1?yB.sub.yO.sub.3?? and a doped zirconia. Adding certain catalyst metals into the fuel oxidation layer not only enhances the initial oxygen flux, but also reduces the degradation rate of the oxygen flux over long-term operation. One of the possible reasons for the improved flux and stability is that the addition of the catalyst metal reduces the chemical reaction between the (Ln.sub.1?xA.sub.x).sub.wCr.sub.1?yB.sub.yO.sub.3?? and the zirconia phases during membrane fabrication and operation, as indicated by the X-ray diffraction results.