A porous composite ultrafiltration membrane including a block copolymer layer having (a) one or more soft block polymer(s) having an elongation at break of greater than about 50%, as measured by ASTM D638 and an elastic modulus of between 10 MPa to 3 GPa as measured by the ASTM D638 tensile test; and (b) one or more hard block polymer(s) having an elongation at break of less than about 65%, as measured by ASTM D638, and an elastic modulus of higher than 1 GPa as measured by the ASTM D638 tensile test, and a macroporous support layer having a pore size larger than a pore size of the block copolymer layer. Also described is a method for making the porous composite membrane.

Multiblock polymer materials, methods of preparing, and using to separate proteins, nucleic acids, other biological or other biomolecules, compounds, or solutes, with high fluxes through electrostatic interactions where the self-assembled block polymer materials contain at least one of macro, meso, or micro pores, and at least some of the pores are isoporous, and at least one polymer block contains stationary electrostatic charge, or reactive functional groups to provide large surface areas that are charged in isoporous structure.

The invention relates to: —anion exchange blend membranes consisting the following blend components: —a halomethylated polymer (a polymer with —(CH.sub.2).sub.x—CH.sub.2—Hal groups, Hal=F, Cl, Br, I; x=0-12), which is quaternised with a tertiary or a n-alkylated/n-arylated imidazole, an N-alkylated/N-arylated benzimidazole or an N-alkylated/N-arylated pyrazol to form an anion exchanger polymer. —an inert matrix polymer in which the anion exchange polymer is embedded and which is optionally covalently crosslinked with the halomethylated precursor of the anion exchanger polymer, —a polyethyleneglycol with epoxide or halomethyl terminal groups which are anchored by reacting with N—H-groups of the base matrix polymer using covalent cross-linking—optionally an acidic polymer which forms with the anion-exchanger polymer an ionic cross-linking (negative bound ions of the acidic polymer forming ionic cross-linking positions relative to the positive cations of the anion-exchanger polymer)—optionally a sulphonated polymer (polymer with sulphate groups —SO.sub.2Me, Me=any cation), which forms with the halomethyl groups of the halomethylated polymer covalent crosslinking bridges with sulfinate S-alkylation. The invention also relates to a method for producing said membranes, to the use of said membranes in electrochemical energy conversion processes (e.g. Redox-flow batteries and other flow batteries, PEM-electrolyses, membrane fuel cells), and in other membrane methods (e.g. electrodialysis, diffusion dialysis).

Embodiments of the present disclosure describe functionalized polymeric membranes including one or more dithiol compounds that extend from a nanoparticle provided on or near a surface and/or pores of a polymer material, wherein at least one thiol of the dithiol compound binds to the nanoparticle and at least one thiol of the dithiol compound is a free thiol. Embodiments of the present disclosure further describe methods of separating and/or recovering a purified antibody comprising contacting a feed stream containing an antibody and other biomolecules with a functionalized polymeric membrane to separate the antibody from the feed stream; and applying a reducing agent to release the antibody from the membrane and recover a purified antibody; wherein the functionalized polymeric membrane includes a plurality of free thiols selective to binding the antibody.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a microporous separator with a pore geometry that creates a low or no tortuosity architecture. In one embodiment, a battery cell may comprise of an anode layer, a cathode layer, and a separator layer positioned between the cathode layer and the anode layer. The separator layer may be comprised of one or more block copolymers. The block copolymers that make up the separator layer may be materials that self-align into a vertical nanostructure. The vertical nanostructures may allow ions within the battery cell to flow in a vertical path between the cathode and anode. This vertical path my create a low or no tortuosity environment within the battery cell.

Disclosed herein are polycationic microfibers comprising a high-aspect-ratio polymeric core, the polymeric core comprising a blend of a first core polymer and a second core polymer, and a polycationic polymer immobilized on the surface of the polymeric core. The polycationic microfibers are capable of sequestering or clearing nucleic acids, proteins, biomolecular complexes, exosomes, or microparticles from solutions and samples and may be formed into filters or integrated into filtration apparatuses. Also disclosed are methods for sequestering or clearing solutes from solutions and fluids, methods for the treatment of diseases or conditions, and methods for the prevention of diseases or conditions.

An ion exchange membrane material is composed of a crosslinked polymer network including a first poly(styrene-b-ethylene-r-butylene-b-styrene) triblock copolymer (SEBS), and second SEBS, and a linker crosslinking the first SEBS and the second SEBS. At least one phenyl group from the first SEBS and the second SEBS is functionalized with an alkyl group, and the carbon at the benzylic position of these alkyl groups is saturated with at least two additional alkyl groups. The linker is a diamine bound to the alkyl functional groups. The ion exchange membrane material is made via a substantially simultaneous quaternization and crosslinking reaction between the diamine linker and SEBS functionalized with alkyl halide groups. Increasing concentration of crosslinker in produces membranes with reduced water uptake, leading to an expectation of enhanced stability under hydrated conditions and greater durability. Advantageously, this reduction in water uptake came with little change to ion exchange capacity.

A mesoporous isoporous asymmetric material includes at least one diblock or multiblock copolymer, wherein the material has a transition layer having a thickness of at least 300 nm and a low macrovoid density, and the material has a sub-structure adjacent to said transition layer and said sub-structure comprises a high macrovoid density. A method for producing mesoporous isoporous asymmetric materials having macrovoids can include: dissolving at least one diblock or multiblock copolymer in a solution, the solution having one or more solvents and one or more nonsolvents, to form a polymer solution; dispensing the polymer solution onto a substrate or mold, or through a die or template; removing at least a portion of solvent and/or nonsolvent from the polymer solution to form a concentrated polymer solution; and exposing the concentrated polymer solution to a nonsolvent causing precipitation of at (least a portion of the polymer from the concentrated polymer solution.

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to a microporous separator with a pore geometry that creates a low or no tortuosity architecture. In one embodiment, a battery cell may comprise of an anode layer, a cathode layer, and a separator layer positioned between the cathode layer and the anode layer. The separator layer may be comprised of one or more block copolymers. The block copolymers that make up the separator layer may be materials that self-align into a vertical nanostructure. The vertical nanostructures may allow ions within the battery cell to flow in a vertical path between the cathode and anode. This vertical path my create a low or no tortuosity environment within the battery cell.

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.