Described herein is a graphene material and polymer-based anti-microbial element that provides anti-microbial capabilities. Described is an element that can also comprise a support. Also described is an element where the support can be the article to be protected from microbial buildup. Also described are methods for preventing microbial fouling by applying the aforementioned anti-microbial elements and related devices.

Methods of treating an inert surface of a substrate to improve the adherence to the treated surface of micro-dimensioned particles including the steps of: contacting the inert surface with in an aqueous dispersion of a construct of the structure F-S-L; and then washing the surface with an aqueous vehicle to provide the treated surface, where F is a polyamine; S is CO(CH.sub.2).sub.2CO, CO(CH.sub.2).sub.3CO, CO(CH.sub.2).sub.4CO or CO(CH.sub.2).sub.5CO; and L is a diacyl- or dialkyl-glycerophospholipid.

The present invention relates to a water extraction system comprising a flow cell comprising a membrane; said membrane comprising an active layer comprising immobilized aquaporin water channels and a support layer, and said membrane having a feed side and a non-feed side; and an aqueous source solution in fluid communication with the feed side of the membrane.

A crosslinked protein-based separation membrane and application thereof. The separation membrane is formed by attaching a crosslinked protein nanomembrane to a porous membrane, the crosslinked protein nanomembrane is formed by crosslinking a two-dimensional nanomembrane which is formed by phase transition of a protein with a crosslinking agent, the separation membrane contains a dense surface layer and a support layer, the dense surface layer is the crosslinked protein nanomembrane, and the support layer is the porous membrane; the protein is any one of lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, insulin, and ?-lactalbumin; the crosslinked protein-based separation membrane has a good biocompatibility, may serve as a dialysis membrane for blood purification, and has a higher retention ratio for large molecular proteins.

A dual-pathway system for CO.sub.2 capture in both acidified and basified streams is provided. The system may be embodied in an off-shore stand-alone facility to allow for the operation of oceanic CO.sub.2 capture to be more efficient and cost effective. Systems maintain high environmental standards by containing all intermediate acidic and alkaline solutions in a closed system so that the effluent discharged back into the ocean is at the similar pH and salinity as the feed oceanwater, with only CO.sub.2 removed. Acid and base produced by an electrodialyzer unit is used to achieve oceanwater decarbonization via gaseous CO.sub.2 removal and solid CaCO.sub.3 precipitates removal. The system is configured to require the processing of a very small fraction of the total oceanwater intake for the acid-base generation process.

The present invention relates to systems, methods and uses for recycling at least a part of water lost during various renal replacement therapy processes, e.g. in the preparation of a fresh dialysate solution or fresh reconstitution fluid for kidney disease dialysis and hemofiltration by utilizing water from the spent fluids. The system of the invention is useful in hemodialysis and in peritoneal dialysis as well as in hemofiltration for reuse of water from filtrates and spent fluids. In addition, the system of the invention is useful in the development of a renal assist device or artificial kidney.

The present disclosure provides methods, compositions, kits and apparatuses for stabilizing membranes, membrane proteins, and/or membranes containing membrane proteins using hydrophobin.

The subject of the invention is new membranes in which tailor-made membrane transport proteins (such as e.g. TCDB classified proteins) act as pore-forming proteins (e.g. FhuA) or peptides which act as pores in the membrane. The membranes can preferably be produced both by linking synthesised protein-polymer conjugates and by direct linking of the pore-forming proteins and peptides. Such membranes are distinguished by many outstanding features which existing membranes have not been able to offer to date.

A photothermal distillation membrane including a polydopamine (PDA) coated, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane is disclosed, as well as a process for synthesizing same. A photothermal aerogel membrane including a polydopamine (PDA)-containing bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is also disclosed, as well as a process for synthesizing same.

The present invention relates to self-assembled nano structures comprising polyalkyleneimine (PAI) and a detergent solubilized transmembrane protein, such as an aquaporin protein.