Special Issue "Advanced Electrospun Membrane Fabrication for Wastewater Treatment and Air Purification"

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 2820

Special Issue Editors

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Interests: desalination and water/wastewater treatment technologies; advanced membrane fabrication by electrospinning technology; membrane distillation; conveyance systems for water/wastewater
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Hydrology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India
Interests: membrane distillation; forward osmosis; nanoengineered surface design; polymeric/nanocomposite membrane fabrication; membrane biofouling and scaling; desalination and water/wastewater treatment; solid waste management; membrane-based air purification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Advanced membranes fabricated by electrospinning technology have been increasingly used in wastewater treatment and air purification in recent years, owing to their excellent performance and high porosity. Compared with the traditional phase inversion membrane method, electrospinning technology can reduce chemical consumption by about 90%. The use of electrospinning technology in the fabrication of nanofiber membranes enables the precise adjustment of the microscale morphology of the membrane surface, the diameter of the nanofiber, the pore size, and other membrane parameters. Moreover, their unique high porosity can generate correspondingly high water flux in wastewater treatment, while maintaining high air permeability in air purification processes. Meanwhile, electrospinning technology can utilize new materials to prepare advanced membranes with innovative functions, such as photocatalytic membranes with anti-fouling ability, MOF membranes with high adsorption capacity, and so on. Furthermore, electrospinning technology can not only prepare nanofiber membranes, but also construct specific surface structures and improve the overall membrane performance by active surface coatings, such as enhancing the hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity of the membrane or adjusting the zeta potential value on the membrane surface. In this regard, the present Special Issue will aim to provide a platform for researchers to exchange their novel ideas and share research outcomes related to advanced electrospun membrane fabrication for wastewater treatment and air purification. 

Topics of potential relevance to this Special Issue include but are not limited to the following: 

  • Electrospinning technology;
  • Electro-spraying technology;
  • Advanced membrane fabrication;
  • Photocatalytic membrane fabrication;
  • MOF membrane fabrication;
  • Membrane distillation;
  • Membrane-based processes;
  • Industrial wastewater treatment;
  • Advanced desalination system;
  • Oil–water separation;
  • Micropollutants removal;
  • Landfill leachate treatment;
  • Air purification;
  • PM2.5 removal;
  • Anti-bacterial air filters;
  • Carbon footprint. 

Authors are invited to submit their latest original results as full papers or short communications. Review articles, case studies and perspectives are also welcomed. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Jiaxin Guo
Dr. Bhaskar Jyoti Deka
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 2200 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.

Keywords

  • electrospinning technology
  • advanced membrane fabrication
  • wastewater treatment
  • air purification

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Efficient, Breathable, and Compostable Multilayer Air Filter Material Prepared from Plant-Derived Biopolymers
Membranes 2023, 13(4), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13040380 - 27 Mar 2023
Viewed by 781
Abstract
State-of-art face masks and respirators are fabricated as single-use devices using microfibrous polypropylene fabrics, which are challenging to be collected and recycled at a community scale. Compostable face masks and respirators can offer a viable alternative to reducing their environmental impact. In this [...] Read more.
State-of-art face masks and respirators are fabricated as single-use devices using microfibrous polypropylene fabrics, which are challenging to be collected and recycled at a community scale. Compostable face masks and respirators can offer a viable alternative to reducing their environmental impact. In this work, we have developed a compostable air filter produced by electrospinning a plant-derived protein, zein, on a craft paper-based substrate. The electrospun material is tailored to be humidity tolerant and mechanically durable by crosslinking zein with citric acid. The electrospun material demonstrated a high particle filtration efficiency (PFE) of 91.15% and a high pressure drop (PD) of 191.2 Pa using an aerosol particle diameter of 75 ± 2 nm at a face velocity of 10 cm/s. We deployed a pleated structure to reduce the PD or improve the breathability of the electrospun material without compromising the PFE over short- and long-duration tests. Over a 1 h salt loading test, the PD of a single-layer pleated filter increased from 28.9 to 39.1 Pa, while that of the flat sample increased from 169.3 to 327 Pa. The stacking of pleated layers enhanced the PFE while retaining a low PD; a two-layer stack with a pleat width of 5 mm offers a PFE of 95.4 ± 0.34% and a low PD of 75.2 ± 6.1 Pa. Full article
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Article
Electrospun Silica-Polyacrylonitrile Nanohybrids for Water Treatments
Membranes 2023, 13(1), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010072 - 06 Jan 2023
Viewed by 723
Abstract
In this work, the removal of NOM (natural organic matter) as represented by humic acid by means of electrospun nanofiber adsorptive membranes (ENAMs) is described. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was used for the preparation of ENAMs incorporating silica nanoparticles as adsorbents. The addition of silica [...] Read more.
In this work, the removal of NOM (natural organic matter) as represented by humic acid by means of electrospun nanofiber adsorptive membranes (ENAMs) is described. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was used for the preparation of ENAMs incorporating silica nanoparticles as adsorbents. The addition of silica to the polymer left visible changes on the structural morphology and fibers’ properties of the membrane. The membrane samples were characterized by pure water permeability, contact angle measurement, SEM, XPS, and XRD. This study assesses the preliminary performance of PAN-Si membranes for the removal of natural organic matter (NOM). The membrane rejected the humic acid, a surrogate of NOM, from 69.57% to 87.5%. Full article
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Article
Rational Design of PDA/P-PVDF@PP Janus Membrane with Asymmetric Wettability for Switchable Emulsion Separation
Membranes 2023, 13(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010014 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 955
Abstract
Water pollution caused by oil spills or sewage discharges has become a serious ecological environmental issue. Despite the membrane separation technique having a promising application in wastewater purification, the membrane fabrication method and separation robustness have remained unsatisfactory until now. Herein, we developed [...] Read more.
Water pollution caused by oil spills or sewage discharges has become a serious ecological environmental issue. Despite the membrane separation technique having a promising application in wastewater purification, the membrane fabrication method and separation robustness have remained unsatisfactory until now. Herein, we developed a novel strategy, spacer-assisted sequential phase conversion, to create a patterned polyvinylidene fluoride@polypropylene (P-PVDF@PP) substrate membrane with a multiscale roughened surface. Based on that surface structure, the underwater oil resistance behavior of the P-PVDF@PP membrane was improved. Moreover, owing to the abundant active sites on the P-PVDF@PP surface, the polydopamine/P-PVDF@PP (PDA/P-PVDF@PP) Janus membrane could be readily fabricated via wet chemical modification, which exhibited excellent switchable oil–water separation performance. Regarding surfactant-stabilized oil-water emulsion, the as-prepared PDA/P-PVDF@PP Janus membrane also had robust separation efficiency (as high as 99% in the n-hexane/water, chloroform/water, and toluene/water emulsion separation cases) and desirable reusability. Finally, the underlying mechanism of emulsion separation in the PDA/P-PVDF@PP Janus membrane was specified. The as-designed PDA/P-PVDF@PP Janus membrane with high-efficiency oil–water separation shows potential application in oily wastewater treatment, and the developed fabrication method has implications for the fabrication of advanced separation membranes. Full article
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