Disclosed herein is a polymer membrane, film or coating comprising cylindrical polymer fibers at least partially ordered as hexagonal packed cylinders within the film, aligned parallel to the film surface, and present as an H.sub.1 mesophase; wherein the cylinders are crosslinked internally within the cylinders; and wherein the cylinders are spatially arranged to provide channels between the cylinders for fluid flow through the membrane, film or coating.

The invention provides systems and methods for substantially improving the compaction resistance of isoporous block copolymer (BCP) film by adding a high molecular weight hydrophilic additive in the casting dope formulation. Systems and methods disclosed also disclose several other multifunctional enhancements to film properties including: low fouling propensity, improved permeability, improved permeability retention upon drying, and ability to tune the substructure and pore size of these novel BCP films. These porous BCP films are useful in filtration and separations applications and are amenable to standard manufacturing practices.

A wound treating article, system and kit, and methods of assembly and treating are provided where nanoporous isoporous membranes are pathogen tuned are combined with resilient, flexible or elastic supports to provide tailored wound treating bandages and/or kits for the medical industry.

Disclosed are a superhydrophobic microfiltration membrane capable of facilitating higher permeate flux without separation performance deterioration when performing a water treatment based on a membrane distillation method, a filtration module for membrane distillation comprising the same, and a method for manufacturing the same. The superhydrophobic microfiltration membrane of the present invention comprises a porous member having a plurality of fine pores having an average pore size of 1 m to 100 m and has a pure water contact angle of 130 or more.

A method for forming an isoporous graded film comprising multiblock copolymers and isoporous graded films. The films have a surface layer and a bulk layer. The surface layer can have at least 1?10.sup.14 pores/m.sup.2 and a pore size distribution (d.sub.max/d.sub.min)) of less than 3. The bulk layer has an asymmetric structure. The films can be used in filtration applications.

The present disclosure provides block copolymers, thin films including block copolymers, and methods for forming block copolymers and thin films. The block copolymers, due to self-assembly or otherwise, may include one or more regions. The one or more regions may permit a thin film including a block copolymer to be used as a nanostructured membrane.

A two-dimensional membrane layered structure may include a support substrate layer having a plurality of substrate passages configured to allow fluid to flow therethrough, a two-dimensional membrane layer disposed on an upper surface of the support substrate layer, and a plurality of flow passages disposed between the support substrate layer and the two-dimensional membrane layer. The two-dimensional membrane layer may have a plurality of pores configured to allow fluid to flow therethrough. The plurality of pores may comprise a first portion of pores that overlap with the plurality of substrate passages and a second portion of pores that do not overlap with the plurality of substrate passages. The plurality of flow passages may be configured to allow fluid to flow through the second portion of pores to the plurality of substrate passages.

The invention relates to a device, a method, and a kit for separating particles of different sizes in a liquid. The invention additionally relates to applications of the device. The device and the method involve the capability of binding particles to solid phase particles with different diameters in a liquid, whereby the hydrodynamic diameter of the solid-phase particles determines whether the particles can pass through pores of a filter element, the diameter of said pores being modifiable in a controlled manner (e.g., the diameter can be increased or decreased). Thus, particles of equal size (e.g., B-cells and T-cells) of a liquid can be separated from one another with a high degree of separation efficiency, wherein the particles can be separated simply, quickly, and inexpensively. High yields can be produced, and the particles can be provided in a therapeutically applicable liquid.

The invention relates to membrane gas separation, in particular to a method of fractionating mixtures of low molecular weight hydrocarbons based on the capillary condensation of the mixture components in the pores of microporous membranes having uniform porosity and a pore diameter of 5 to 250 nm, wherein, for capillary condensation, the temperature of the membrane and the pressure on the permeate side are kept below the temperature and the pressure of the feed mixture. The method provides significantly increasing membrane permeability with respect to condensable components, and also component separation factors, while also allowing to avoid deep cooling of the gas stream fed to a membrane module, and to carry out gas separation under insignificant cooling of the membrane on the permeate side (down to -50? C.). The invention provides for energy-efficient fractionation of hydrocarbon mixtures, including separation and drying of natural and associated petroleum gases.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for composite materials, methods of making composite materials, methods of using composite materials, and the like. In particular, the present application relates to hollow fibers and to pressure-retarded osmosis systems comprising said fibers. The hollow fibers have an inside layer and an outside layer, wherein the outside layer covers an outside surface of the inside layer, wherein the inside layer forms a boundary around the lumen, wherein the inside layer includes a bi-layer structure, wherein the bi-layer structure includes a sponge-like layer and a finger-like layer, wherein the sponge-like layer is disposed closer to the lumen of the hollow fiber and the finger-like layer is disposed on the sponge-like layer on the side opposite the lumen, wherein the outside layer includes a polyamide layer.