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Polymers
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Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II
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Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2023) | Viewed by 16374

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tiziana Marino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB-CNR) Via Campi Flegrei 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, NA, Italy
Interests: polymer membranes; materials chemistry; material characterization; water treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Collegues,

Sustainable development has its roots in the respect and the protection of natural resources for a qualitative improvement of our life. In this context, eco-friendly technologies are emerging as a valid solution for preserving the environment through energy-saving products and the reduction of waste production. Membrane-based operations have become increasingly competitive thanks to the existing technologies and find a great variety of applications in many industrial sectors, such as extraction, concentration, purification, recovery, and production. Polymers are, by far, the most commonly used material for preparing membranes. The choice of a selected polymer affects the final membrane morphology and properties, hence, the starting material is of crucial importance for assuring an efficient separation process. Both renewable and nonrenewable polymeric sources should be employed. With the development of membrane technology, improvements in membrane performance have been made through polymer modifications. However, a much greater effort is still needed to obtain sustainable membrane processes.

For this Special Issue, full research papers, communications, and review articles are invited on the following topics:

  • Novel/sustainable materials for membrane preparation
  • Polymer modifications for membrane fabrication
  • Innovative membrane preparation techniques and applications
  • Recent advances in polymeric membrane production
  • Future perspectives for polymeric membrane materials.

Dr. Tiziana Marino
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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

Keywords

  • polymeric membranes
  • membrane preparation
  • membrane characterization
  • membrane applications
  • innovative polymers for membranes
  • polymers modification for membranes
  • sustainable membrane processes

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2436 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Fumasep® FAA3-50 Membranes in Alkaline Direct Methanol Fuel Cells
by Carmelo Lo Vecchio, Alessandra Carbone, Irene Gatto and Vincenzo Baglio
Polymers 2023, 15(6), 1555; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15061555 - 21 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2065
Abstract
This paper describes the use of a commercial Fumasep® FAA3-50 membrane as an anion exchange membrane (AEM) in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells (ADMFCs). The membrane, supplied in bromide form, is first exchanged in chloride and successively in the hydroxide form. Anionic [...] Read more.
This paper describes the use of a commercial Fumasep® FAA3-50 membrane as an anion exchange membrane (AEM) in alkaline direct methanol fuel cells (ADMFCs). The membrane, supplied in bromide form, is first exchanged in chloride and successively in the hydroxide form. Anionic conductivity measurements are carried out in both a KOH aqueous solution and in a KOH/methanol mixture. AEM-DMFC tests are performed by feeding 1 M methanol, with or without 1 M KOH as a supporting electrolyte. A maximum power density of 5.2 mW cm−2 at 60 °C and 33.2 mW cm−2 at 80 °C is reached in KOH-free feeding and in the alkaline mixture, respectively. These values are in good agreement with some results in the literature obtained with similar experimental conditions but with different anion exchange membranes (AEMs). Finally, methanol crossover is investigated and corresponds to a maximum value of 1.45 × 10−8 mol s−1 cm−2 at 50 °C in a 1 M KOH methanol solution, thus indicating that the Fumasep® FAA3-50 membrane in OH form is a good candidate for ADMFC application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II)
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18 pages, 5511 KiB  
Article
Preparation of Thin-Film Composite Nanofiltration Membranes Doped with N- and Cl-Functionalized Graphene Oxide for Water Desalination
by Francisco J. García-Picazo, Sergio Pérez-Sicairos, Gustavo A. Fimbres-Weihs, Shui W. Lin, Moisés I. Salazar-Gastélum and Balter Trujillo-Navarrete
Polymers 2021, 13(10), 1637; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13101637 - 18 May 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3072
Abstract
In the present work, chemically modified graphene oxide (GO) was incorporated as a crosslinking agent into thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes for water desalination applications, which were prepared by the interfacial polymerization (IP) method, where the monomers were piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl [...] Read more.
In the present work, chemically modified graphene oxide (GO) was incorporated as a crosslinking agent into thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes for water desalination applications, which were prepared by the interfacial polymerization (IP) method, where the monomers were piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). GO was functionalized with monomer-containing groups to promote covalent interactions with the polymeric film. The composite GO/polyamide (PA) was prepared by incorporating amine and acyl chloride groups into the structure of GO and then adding these chemical modified nanomaterial during IP. The effect of functionalized GO on membrane properties and performance was investigated. Chemical composition and surface morphology of the prepared GO and membranes were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The fabricated composite membranes exhibited a significant increase in permeance (from 1.12 to 1.93 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) and salt rejection for Na2SO4 (from 95.9 to 98.9%) and NaCl (from 46.2 to 61.7%) at 2000 ppm, when compared to non-modified membranes. The amine- and acyl chloride-functionalized GO showed improved dispersibility in the respective phase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II)
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16 pages, 5958 KiB  
Article
Dynamics and Structure Formation of Confined Polymer Thin Films Supported on Solid Substrates
by Mujib Ur Rahman, Yonghao Xi, Haipeng Li, Fei Chen, Dongjie Liu and Jinjia Wei
Polymers 2021, 13(10), 1621; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13101621 - 17 May 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3713
Abstract
The stability/instability behavior of polystyrene (PS) films with tunable thickness ranging from higher as-cast to lower residual made on Si substrates with and without native oxide layer was studied in this paper. For further extraction of residual PS thin film (hresi) [...] Read more.
The stability/instability behavior of polystyrene (PS) films with tunable thickness ranging from higher as-cast to lower residual made on Si substrates with and without native oxide layer was studied in this paper. For further extraction of residual PS thin film (hresi) and to investigate the polymer–substrate interaction, Guiselin’s method was used by decomposing the polymer thin films in different solvents. The solvents for removing loosely adsorbed chains and extracting the strongly adsorbed irreversible chains were selected based on their relative desorption energy difference with polymer. The PS thin films rinsed in chloroform with higher polarity than that of toluene showed a higher decrease in the residual film thickness but exhibited earlier growth of holes and dewetting in the film. The un-annealed samples with a higher oxide film thickness showed a higher decrease in the PS residual film thickness. The effective viscosity of PS thin films spin-coated on H-Si substrates increased because of more resistance to flow dynamics due to the stronger polymer–substrate interaction as compared to that of Si-SiOx substrates. By decreasing the film thickness, the overall effective mobility of the film increased and led to the decrease in the effective viscosity, with matching results of the film morphology from atomic force microscopy (AFM). The polymer film maintained low viscosity until a certain period of time, whereupon further annealing occurred, and the formation of holes in the film grew, which ultimately dewetted the film. The residual film decrement, growth of holes in the film, and dewetting of the polymer-confined thin film showed dependence on the effective viscosity, the strength of solvent used, and various involved interactions on the surface of substrates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II)
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23 pages, 7963 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Characterization of a Novel Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)/Poly(ethersulfone) Blend Membrane Fabricated Using an Innovative Method of Mixing Electrospinning and Phase Inversion
by Norhan Nady, Noha Salem and Sherif. H. Kandil
Polymers 2021, 13(5), 790; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13050790 - 4 Mar 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2367
Abstract
In this work, a novel polymeric membrane was innovated in terms of composition and preparation techniques. A blend of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PcH) and poly(ethersulfone) (PES) (18 wt.% total polymer concentration) was prepared using a N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) solvents mixture, while [...] Read more.
In this work, a novel polymeric membrane was innovated in terms of composition and preparation techniques. A blend of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PcH) and poly(ethersulfone) (PES) (18 wt.% total polymer concentration) was prepared using a N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) solvents mixture, while Lithium chloride (0.05–0.5 wt.%) was used as an additive. The electrospinning and phase inversion techniques were used together to obtain a novel membrane structure. The prepared membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscope imaging, energy dispersive X-Ray, differential scanning calorimeter, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance analyses. Moreover, the static water contact angle, membrane thickness, porosity, surface roughness as well as water vapor permeability were determined. ImageJ software was used to estimate the average fiber diameter. Additionally, the effect of the change of PcH concentration and coagulation bath temperature on the properties of the fabricated membrane was studied. The novel developed membrane has shown a good efficiency in terms of properties and features, as a membrane suitable for membrane distillation (MD); a high porosity (84.4% ± 0.6), hydrophobic surface (136.39° ± 3.1 static water contact angle), and a water vapor permeability of around 4.37 × 10−5 g·m/m2·day·Pa were obtained. The prepared membrane can be compared to the MD membranes commercially available in terms of properties and economic value. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II)
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19 pages, 5604 KiB  
Article
Polyvinylidene Fluoride-Graphene Oxide Membranes for Dye Removal under Visible Light Irradiation
by Sabri Alyarnezhad, Tiziana Marino, Jalal Basiri Parsa, Francesco Galiano, Claudia Ursino, Hermenegildo Garcìa, Marta Puche and Alberto Figoli
Polymers 2020, 12(7), 1509; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12071509 - 7 Jul 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 3785
Abstract
In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-graphene oxide (GO) membranes were obtained by employing triethyl phosphate (TEP) as a solvent. GO nanosheets were prepared and characterized in terms of scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM, respectively), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron [...] Read more.
In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-graphene oxide (GO) membranes were obtained by employing triethyl phosphate (TEP) as a solvent. GO nanosheets were prepared and characterized in terms of scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM, respectively), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), chemical analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP). Two different phase inversion techniques, Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) and Vapour-Induced Phase Separation (VIPS)/NIPS, were applied to study the effect of fabrication procedure on the membrane structure and properties. Membranes were characterized by SEM, AFM, pore size, porosity, contact angle and mechanical tests, and finally tested for photocatalytic methylene blue (MB+) degradation under visible light irradiation. The effect of different pH values of dye aqueous solutions on the photocatalytic efficiency was investigated. Finally, the influence of NaCl salt on the MB+ photodegradation process was also evaluated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Membrane Technology and Applications II)
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