Membranes Young Investigators' Contributions Collection

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 8037

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Departament de Química, Universitat de Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17003 Girona, Spain
Interests: separation processes based on functionalized membranes; supported liquid membranes; polymer inclusion membranes; membrane systems for the clean-up of natural waters and industrial wastewaters; physico-chemical and electrical characterization of membranes; environmental and industrial sampling and analysis
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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Interests: ion-exchange and liquid membranes; membrane applications in passive sampling; flow analysis; water treatment; chemical sensing; synthesis of metal nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Interests: polymer inclusion membranes; X-ray scattering; polymer characterisation; flow injection analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Membranes aims to compile the current trends and research directions of internationally renowned and successful young membrane scientists in one dedicated Special Issue. The idea for this Special Issue has arisen from the numerous and, above all, brilliant nominations for Membranes Young Investigator Award (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/membranes/awards).

In this Special Issue, we invite young investigators to submit manuscripts describing their ongoing research in this exciting field of membrane science. Young researchers are expected to lead the publications derived from their research, either as a first or corresponding author, regardless of whether they are in the early stages of their research careers (undergraduate, graduate, Master, and PhD students) or intermediate stage (postdoctoral researchers or junior group leaders), as long as they meet the requirement of being under 40 years old. Manuscripts covering original research as well as review articles, short communications, and perspective articles are acceptable for submission. With this new initiative, we wish to strengthen the networking of young researchers, paving the way to later stages of their research careers.

We are looking for your contributions!

Prof. Dr. Clàudia Fontàs
Prof. Dr. Spas D. Kolev
Dr. Edward A. Nagul
Prof. Dr. Yingchao Dong
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 3540 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Properties of Polyimide Composite Membrane with High Transmittance and Surface Hydrophobicity for Lightweight Optical System
by Jiajia Yin, Haohao Hui, Bin Fan, Jiang Bian, Junfeng Du and Hu Yang
Membranes 2022, 12(6), 592; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12060592 - 03 Jun 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1811
Abstract
Polyimide membranes have excellent physiochemical properties which make them valuable materials for optical area. However, common aromatic polyimide membrane trend to show low transmittance in visible region because of the charge-transfer complex (CTC) in molecular structures. Moreover, it’s trending to show high moisture [...] Read more.
Polyimide membranes have excellent physiochemical properties which make them valuable materials for optical area. However, common aromatic polyimide membrane trend to show low transmittance in visible region because of the charge-transfer complex (CTC) in molecular structures. Moreover, it’s trending to show high moisture uptakes because of the hydrophilic imide rings in molecular structure. In this work, a polyimide composite membrane with SiO2 antireflective membrane on both sides was prepared. High transmittance (93% within 500~800 nm) and surface hydrophobicity was realized simultaneously. The polyimide composite membrane showed great optical homogeneity. The SiO2 antireflective membranes on polyimide substrate were prepared through a simple and efficient sol-gel method. The surface roughness of polyimide membrane substrate on each side has been improved to 1.56 nm and 3.14 nm, respectively. Moreover, the excellent thermal stability and mechanical property of polyimide membrane has been preserved, which greatly improves the range of applications for the composite membrane. It is a good candidate for light weight optical system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membranes Young Investigators' Contributions Collection)
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13 pages, 2932 KiB  
Article
Electrospun Hybrid Films for Fast and Convenient Delivery of Active Herb Extracts
by Shiri Guo, Wenlai Jiang, Liangfei Shen, Gaoyi Zhang, Yiman Gao, Yaoyao Yang and Deng-Guang Yu
Membranes 2022, 12(4), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12040398 - 01 Apr 2022
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 3411
Abstract
Herb medicines are popular for safe application due to being a source of natural herbs. However, how to deliver them in an efficacious and convenient manner poses a big challenge to researchers. In this study, a new concept is demonstrated that the electrospun [...] Read more.
Herb medicines are popular for safe application due to being a source of natural herbs. However, how to deliver them in an efficacious and convenient manner poses a big challenge to researchers. In this study, a new concept is demonstrated that the electrospun polymer-based hybrid films can be a platform for promoting the delivery of a mixture of active herb extract, i.e., Lianhua Qingwen Keli (LQK), also a commercial traditional Chinese patent medicine. The LQK can be co-dissolved with the filament-forming polymeric polyvinylpyrrolidone K60 and a sweeter sucralose to prepare an electrospinnable solution. A handheld electrospinning apparatus was explored to transfer the solution into solid nanofibers, i.e., the LQK-loaded medicated films. These films were demonstrated to be composed of linear nanofibers. A puncher was utilized to transfer the mat into circular membrane a diameter of 15 mm. Two self-created methods were developed for disclosing the dissolution performances of the electrospun mats. Both the water droplet experiments and the wet paper (mimic tongue) experiments verified that the hybrid films can rapidly disintegrate when they encounter water and release the loaded LQK in an immediate manner. Based on the reasonable selections of polymeric excipients, the present protocols pave a way for delivering many types of active herb extracts in an effective and convenient manner. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membranes Young Investigators' Contributions Collection)
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Review

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14 pages, 1841 KiB  
Review
Theoretical and Experimental Considerations for Investigating Multicomponent Diffusion in Hydrated, Dense Polymer Membranes
by Antara Mazumder, Breanna M. Dobyns, Michael P. Howard and Bryan S. Beckingham
Membranes 2022, 12(10), 942; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12100942 - 27 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1852
Abstract
In many applications of hydrated, dense polymer membranes—including fuel cells, desalination, molecular separations, electrolyzers, and solar fuels devices—the membrane is challenged with aqueous streams that contain multiple solutes. The presence of multiple solutes presents a complex process because each solute can have different [...] Read more.
In many applications of hydrated, dense polymer membranes—including fuel cells, desalination, molecular separations, electrolyzers, and solar fuels devices—the membrane is challenged with aqueous streams that contain multiple solutes. The presence of multiple solutes presents a complex process because each solute can have different interactions with the polymer membrane and with other solutes, which collectively determine the transport behavior and separation performance that is observed. It is critical to understand the theoretical framework behind and experimental considerations for understanding how the presence of multiple solutes impacts diffusion, and thereby, the design of membranes. Here, we review models for multicomponent diffusion in the context of the solution-diffusion framework and the associated experiments for characterizing multicomponent transport using diffusion cells. Notably, multicomponent effects are typically not considered when discussing or investigating transport in dense, hydrated polymer membranes, however recent research has shown that these effects can be large and important for understanding the transport behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membranes Young Investigators' Contributions Collection)
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