A silica membrane filter 10 includes an ultrafiltration membrane 15, which is disposed on a support body 14 and which contains an element 14 as a primary component, and a silica membrane 18 which is disposed on the ultrafiltration membrane 15 and which has an aryl group. The ultrafiltration membrane 15 has a structure infiltrated by Si of the silica membrane 18, the atomic ratio A (=Si/M) of Si to the element M in a membrane-side region 16, which is a region corresponding to 25% of the ultrafiltration membrane 15 from the silica membrane 18, satisfies 0.01≦A≦0.5, and the ratio A/B of the atomic ratio A to the atomic ratio B (=Si/M) in a base-material-side region 17, which is a region corresponding to 25% from the support body 14, is within the range of 1.1 or more.

A method for preparing a nanoporous silica sol-gel matrix containing at least one amine reactant selected from hydroxylamine, methylhydroxylamine, tertbutylhydroxylamine, methoxyamine, tetraethylenepentamine, dicarboxylic acid dihydrazides, particularly adipic acid dihydrazide, and the salts thereof, said method including the following steps: a) synthesising a gel from tetramethoxysilane or from a mixture of tetramethoxysilane and another organosilicon precursor selected from among phenyltrimethoxysilane, phenyltriethoxysilane, a fluoroalkyltrimethoxysilane, a fluoroalkyltriethoxysilane, a chloroalkylmethoxysilane, a chloroalkylethoxysilane, an alkyltrimethoxysilane, an alkyltriethoxysilane, an aminopropyltriethoxysilane and the mixtures thereof, the synthesis being performed in an aqueous medium at a temperature ranging from 10 to 70° C. in the presence of at least one amine reactant selected from among hydroxylamine, methylhydroxylamine, tertbutylhydroxylamine, methoxyamine, dicarboxylic acid dihydrazides, particularly adipic acid dihydrazide, and the salts thereof; b) drying the gel obtained during step a) so as to obtain a sol-gel matrix containing at least one amine reactant.

The present invention provides a composite body having, on a porous substrate and in the interstices of the substrate that includes fibers, preferably of an electrically nonconductive material, a porous layer (1) composed of oxide particles bonded to one another and partly to the substrate that include at least one oxide selected from oxides of the elements Al, Zr, Ti and Si, preferably selected from Al.sub.2O.sub.3, ZrO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2 and SiO.sub.2, and having, at least on one side, a further porous layer (2) including oxide particles bonded to one another and partly to layer (1) that include at least one oxide selected from oxides of the elements Al, Zr, Ti and Si, preferably selected from Al.sub.2O.sub.3, ZrO.sub.2, TiO.sub.2 and SiO.sub.2, where the oxide particles present in layer (1) have a greater median particle size than the oxide particles present in layer (2), which is characterized in that the median particle size (d.sub.50) of the oxide particles in layer (1) is from 0.5 to 4 μm and the median particle size (d.sub.50) of the oxide particles in layer (2) is from 0.015 to 0.15 μm, preferably 0.04 to 0.06 μm, a process for producing corresponding composite bodies and for the use thereof, especially in gas separation.

A method for preparing a nanoporous silica sol-gel matrix containing at least one amine reactant selected from hydroxylamine, methylhydroxylamine, tertbutylhydroxylamine, methoxyamine, tetraethylenepentamine, dicarboxylic acid dihydrazides, particularly adipic acid dihydrazide, and the salts thereof, said method including the following steps: a) synthesising a gel from tetramethoxysilane or from a mixture of tetramethoxysilane and another organosilicon precursor selected from among phenyltrimethoxysilane, phenyltriethoxysilane, a fluoroalkyltrimethoxysilane, a fluoroalkyltriethoxysilane, a chloroalkylmethoxysilane, a chloroalkylethoxysilane, an alkyltrimethoxysilane, an alkyltriethoxysilane, an aminopropyltriethoxysilane and the mixtures thereof, the synthesis being performed in an aqueous medium at a temperature ranging from 10 to 70° C. in the presence of at least one amine reactant selected from among hydroxylamine, methylhydroxylamine, tertbutylhydroxylamine, methoxyamine, dicarboxylic acid dihydrazides, particularly adipic acid dihydrazide, and the salts thereof; b) drying the gel obtained during step a) so as to obtain a sol-gel matrix containing at least one amine reactant.

The invention relates to a power distribution system (1), especially a Power-over-Ethernet system, comprising at least one dominant sensor, which may be located within a powered device (4) like a lighting device, and at least one non-dominant sensor, which may be located within another powered device (4), wherein the power distribution system is adapted such that in a system low power mode the at least one dominant sensor (6) consumes power provided by a power providing unit (3) and the at least one non-dominant sensor (6) does not consume the provided power and that the power distribution system (1) switches from the system low power mode to a system high power mode, if the at least one dominant sensor (6) has sensed an event. Since in the system low power mode the at least one non-dominant sensor does not consume power, the power consumption can be reduced.

Stabilized surfactant-based membranes and methods of manufacture thereof. Membranes comprising a stabilized surfactant mesostructure on a porous support may be used for various separations, including reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. The membranes are stabilized after evaporation of solvents; in some embodiments no removal of the surfactant is required. The surfactant solution may or may not comprise a hydrophilic compound such as an acid or base. The surface of the porous support is preferably modified prior to formation of the stabilized surfactant mesostructure. The membrane is sufficiently stable to be utilized in commercial separations devices such as spiral wound modules. Also a stabilized surfactant mesostructure coating for a porous material and filters made therefrom. The coating can simultaneously improve both the permeability and the filtration characteristics of the porous material.

An evaporative cooling system includes a porous ceramic body with a plurality of dry channels and a plurality of wet channels. The plurality of dry channels are configured to inhibit transfer of water vapor into the dry channels and include a barrier layer that includes a roughened layer with a features size less than 1000 nm and a hydrophobic chemical modification disposed on the roughened layer. The plurality of wet channels are configured to allow transfer of water vapor.

An improved method for concentrating dispersions of graphene oxide, coating a substrate with a layer of a graphene oxide solution, and producing a supported graphene membrane stabilised by controlled deoxygenation; and graphene-based membranes that demonstrate ultra-fast water transport, precise molecular sieving of gas and solvated molecules, and which show great promise as novel separation platforms.

Disclosed herein are ceramic selective membranes and methods of forming the ceramic selective membranes by forming a selective silica ceramic on a porous membrane substrate.

Mesoporous membranes have shown promising separation performance with a potential to lower the energy consumption, leading to a dramatic cost reduction. Recently, an extensive effort has been made on the design of membranes which brought a significant progress toward the synthesis of well-defined porous morphologies, most of which synthesized by surfactant-template methodology. Currently, the most well-designed state-of-the-art membranes using this technique are made from metals, polymers, carbon, silica, etc. In the present invention, we demonstrate mesoporous calcium-silicate particles having superior separation capacity and optimal permeability, thereby leading to reduced energy consumption for selective separation of gases/liquids and/or the combination thereof. We explore various methods to improve the calcium-silicate membranes properties by tuning pore density during the synthesis/aging process, while favoring the formation of uniformly distributed nanopores. Lowering particle density by controlling calcium to silicon ratio along with optimizing the surface area are essential in achieving our objective.