Dear Colleagues,

In the last century, energy consumption (mainly from fossil fuels) has experienced a rise 20 times greater than the growth of the world’s population. It is estimated that energy demand will grow 30% by 2040, moving away from complying with the Paris Agreement.

Many international organizations agree that the atmospheric CO₂ is reaching very high levels; reducing these emissions to fight climate change is a matter of urgency. To accomplish this, a combination of solutions dealing with the technological development of CO₂ capture and storage (CCS) is required. Membrane technology, which has seen an extensive level of research and development, plays an important role in this. Even though polymeric membranes have been commercialized, there are certain limitations restricting their cost-effective implementation, with the research advances of hybrid membranes or mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) gaining special attention in the field of membrane technology.

This Special Issue of Membranes aims to provide an overview of the latest challenges in the MMM embedding of novel functional porous materials such as zeolites, graphene derivatives, MOF, COF, etc.. It could be possible to control membranes’ surface chemistry and textural properties to improve their separation ability while maintaining a good polymer integration. This issue covers the latest advances in MMM technology in academia, aiming at their large-scale industrial implementation. Some of the topics discussed include strategies to improve filler–polymer compatibility, dense flat-sheet or supported hollow fiber membrane configurations with special inputs in the preparation of thin-film composites, and the separation of mixtures under realistic industrial conditions (feed composition, pressure, temperature, etc.). Applications are focused on pre- and post-combustion CO₂ capture but are not limited to other gas- (hydrogen purification, the separation of volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbon separations, etc.) or liquid-phase separations (pervaporation, organic solvent nanofiltration, etc.). Both original research articles and reviews are welcome.

Dr. Beatriz Zornoza
Guest Editor

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.

• mixed-matrix membranes
• membrane characterization
• membrane fabrication
• advanced nanostructured materials
• filler-polymer compatibility
• flat-sheet membrane
• hollow-fiber membrane
• thin-film composite
• gas separation
• CO₂ capture