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Polymers
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Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes
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Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2020) | Viewed by 16081

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Hong-Sik Byun

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical System Engineering, Keimyung University, Daegu 704-701, Korea
Interests: nanofibers; polymeric membrane; IPN; artificial muscle
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Jun-Hyun Kim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department Chemistry, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA
Interests: electrospinning; separation/purification; SERS; metal nanoparticles and their organic catalytic properties; biocompatible hybrid nanomaterials; polymer-inorganic nanocomposites for DDS
Prof. Dr. Chang Hyun Lee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Energy Engineering, Dankook University, Gyeonggi-do 448-701, Republic of Korea
Interests: electrochemical hydrogen generation (PEM water electrolysis; alkaline water electrolysis; AEM water electrolysis and anhydrous ammonia electrolysis) and Electrochemical Power Generation (PEFC, AEMFC, and so on)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Leonard Tijing

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater (CTWW), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
2. ARC Research Hub for Nutrients in a Circular Economy (NiCE), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
Interests: membrane technology; desalination; solar water evaporation; membrane distillation; resource recovery; electrospinning; nanofibers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Membrane systems are used on a large scale to produce drinking water from the sea water and to clean industrial effluents by reverse osmosis, to recover valuable constituents by electrodialysis, to separate alcohol from alcohol–water mixtures by pervaporation, to remove toxins from the blood stream in an artificial kidney by diffusion dialysis, and in emission-free automobiles using fuel cells. However, polymeric membrane can be prepared, generally, via two methods, phase inversion and electrospinning techniques. The phase inversion technique is a conventional but commercially preparation membrane. However, the electrospinning technique is a relatively new preparation method for MF or UF membranes. It has been introduced to make a nonwoven nanofibrous mat or nanofibrous membrane. In this technique, electrostatic charge is introduced to the solution jet, causing a thin fiber with a high surface area; hence, it can be used in applications where high surface area-to-volume or length-to-diameter ratios are required. Moreover, the pore size can be controlled easily by controlling the time of electrospinning. Hence, it can be used as a filter for filtering microparticles as well as nanoparticles. Adding to that, nanofibers with inorganic material can be produced for additional functional properties, such as nanosilver for antibacterial function, CNT for antistatic function, TiO2 for high mechanical strength, grephene oxide for antifouling property, and so on. However, even though the nanofiber mat has many advantages for the water treatment membrane, it has not been used commercially so far because of its extremely low mechanical property and difficulty of mass production. In this Special Issue, nanofiber membranes with various polymers such as PVdF, PAN, Polyamide, Polyester, Polyurethane, and so on will be covered. An important aspect of the Special issue will be preparation using the electrospinning method, characterization in terms of applications, i.e., water treatment and energy applications, functional nanofiber membranes with various nanomaterials, etc. Commercial nanofiber membranes from the industry are particularly welcome.

Prof. Hongsik Byun
Prof. Jun-Hyun Kim
Prof. Chang Hyun Lee
Prof. Leonard Tijing
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. 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

  • Membranes
  • Nanofiber
  • Membrane composites
  • Electrospinning
  • Membrane applications
  • Filtration
  • Membrane fouling
  • Modification of membranes
  • Nanofiber membrane systems
  • Air filter with nanofiber

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2190 KiB  
Article
Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber Membrane Modified with Ag/GO Composite for Water Purification System
by Wongi Jang, Jaehan Yun, Yejun Park, In Kee Park, Hongsik Byun and Chang Hyun Lee
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2441; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112441 - 22 Oct 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2703
Abstract
Silver nanoparticle-modified graphene oxide (Ag/GO) was reliably prepared by using sodium borohydride (NaBH4) in the presence of citric acid capping agent via a simple wet chemistry method. This rapidly formed Ag/GO composite exhibited good dispersity in a solution containing hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile [...] Read more.
Silver nanoparticle-modified graphene oxide (Ag/GO) was reliably prepared by using sodium borohydride (NaBH4) in the presence of citric acid capping agent via a simple wet chemistry method. This rapidly formed Ag/GO composite exhibited good dispersity in a solution containing hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Subsequent electrospinning of this precursor solution resulted in the successful formation of nanofibers without any notable defects. The Ag/GO-incorporated PAN nanofibers showed thinner fiber strands (544 ± 82 nm) compared to those of GO-PAN (688 ± 177 nm) and bare-PAN (656 ± 59 nm). Subsequent thermal treatment of nanofibers resulted in the preparation of thin membranes to possess the desired pore property and outstanding wettability. The Ag/GO-PAN nanofiber membrane also showed 30% higher water flux value (390 LMH) than that of bare-PAN (300 LMH) for possible microfiltration (MF) application. In addition, the resulting Ag/GO-PAN nanofiber membrane exhibited antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive). Furthermore, this composite membrane exhibited outstanding anti-fouling property compared to the GO-PAN nanofiber membrane in the wastewater treatment. Therefore, the simple modification strategy allows for the effective formation of Ag/GO composite as a filler that can be reliably incorporated into polymer nanofiber membranes to possess improved overall properties for wastewater treatment applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes)
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11 pages, 5730 KiB  
Communication
Preparation of Poly-1-butene Nanofiber Mat and Its Application as Shutdown Layer of Next Generation Lithium Ion Battery
by Hanjin Jeong, Sohee Kim, Manjae Gil, Sanghoon Song, Tae-Ho Kim and Kyung Jin Lee
Polymers 2020, 12(10), 2267; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12102267 - 01 Oct 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2557
Abstract
Nonwoven nanofiber webs from polyolefin show great potential in various fields such as nanofilters, high performance membranes and separators in lithium ion batteries (LiB). Although nonwoven microfiber webs can be obtained by the well-established melt-blown method, it is relatively difficult to produce nonwoven [...] Read more.
Nonwoven nanofiber webs from polyolefin show great potential in various fields such as nanofilters, high performance membranes and separators in lithium ion batteries (LiB). Although nonwoven microfiber webs can be obtained by the well-established melt-blown method, it is relatively difficult to produce nonwoven nanofiber web using polyolefin (polyethylene and polypropylene). There have been several reports on the preparation of polyolefin nanofibers by melt-electrospinning, although this approach presents several intrinsic disadvantages, i.e., high processing costs, the requirement of complex equipment, and poor control over pore size or fiber diameter. Solution-based electrospinning has the potential to overcome the drawbacks of melt-electrospinning, but the solubility of most polyolefin is poor. In this study, we found that poly-1-butene, a member of the poly(alpha-olefin) family, can be used in the electrospinning process. We set the concentration of the polymeric solution for electrospinning at 0.65–1.7 g/mL. Here, we report on the fabrication of nonwoven fiber webs composed of poly-1-butene and their copolymers. The diameter of the nonwoven fiber mat was 0.2–0.4 μm, which can be applicable for shutdown layer. As a representative application, we prepared a poly-1-butene nanofiber separator with an appropriate pore size by electrospinning for use as the shut-down layer of a next-generation LiB. The PB-based nanofiber mat provided shutdown ability at around 100 to 120 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes)
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13 pages, 6510 KiB  
Article
Design of Electrochemically Effective Double-Layered Cation Exchange Membranes for Saline Water Electrolysis
by In Kee Park, Dong-Hoon Lee and Chang Hyun Lee
Polymers 2020, 12(9), 2114; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12092114 - 17 Sep 2020
Viewed by 2265
Abstract
Saline water electrolysis (SWE) is an electrochemical process to simultaneously produce hydrogen (H2), chlorine (Cl2), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with high purity levels (e.g., 99.999%) by applying electric power to saline water. The state-of-the art SWE membrane, Flemion® [...] Read more.
Saline water electrolysis (SWE) is an electrochemical process to simultaneously produce hydrogen (H2), chlorine (Cl2), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) with high purity levels (e.g., 99.999%) by applying electric power to saline water. The state-of-the art SWE membrane, Flemion®, has excellent chemical resistance to harsh SWE conditions, but still needs to lower its energy consumption by reducing its ohmic resistance to Na+ ion transport. Meanwhile, most of cation exchange membranes (CEMs) have been suffering from chemical degradation under the alkaline conditions, owing to their single layer matrices composed of sulfonic acid moieties, though they show fast Na+ ion transport behavior. Here double-layered SWE membranes were prepared on the basis of design strategies composed of the incorporation of a chemically stable carboxylic acid layer (C layer) via UV irradiation onto one surface of perfluorinated Nafion®212 membrane chosen as one of commercially available CEMs, and the thickness control of the C layer. The resulting membranes showed excellent SWE performances and improved electrochemical service life, when compared with those of Nafion®212 and Flemion®, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes)
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12 pages, 3357 KiB  
Article
Enhancing iCVD Modification of Electrospun Membranes for Membrane Distillation Using a 3D Printed Scaffold
by Nicole Beauregard, Mustafa Al-Furaiji, Garrett Dias, Matthew Worthington, Aravind Suresh, Ranjan Srivastava, Daniel D. Burkey and Jeffrey R. McCutcheon
Polymers 2020, 12(9), 2074; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12092074 - 12 Sep 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2286
Abstract
Electrospun membranes have shown promise for use in membrane distillation (MD) as they exhibit exceptionally low vapor transport. Their high porosity coupled with the occasional large pore can make them prone to wetting. In this work, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is used [...] Read more.
Electrospun membranes have shown promise for use in membrane distillation (MD) as they exhibit exceptionally low vapor transport. Their high porosity coupled with the occasional large pore can make them prone to wetting. In this work, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is used to modify for electrospun membranes with increased hydrophobicity of the fiber network. To demonstrate conformal coating, we demonstrate the approach on intrinsically hydrophilic electrospun fibers and render the fibers suitable for MD. We enable conformal coating using a unique coating procedure, which provides convective flow of deposited polymers during iCVD. This is made possible by using a 3D printed scaffold, which changed the orientation of the membrane during the coating process. The new coating orientation allows both sides as well as the interior of the membrane to be coated simultaneously and reduced the coating time by a factor of 10 compared to conventional CVD approaches. MD testing confirmed the hydrophobicity of the material as 100% salt rejections were obtained. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes)
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13 pages, 3844 KiB  
Article
Mixed Dye Removal Efficiency of Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile–Graphene Oxide Composite Membranes
by Wongi Jang, Jaehan Yun, Younggee Seo, Hongsik Byun, Jian Hou and Jun-Hyun Kim
Polymers 2020, 12(9), 2009; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12092009 - 03 Sep 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2568
Abstract
Exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) was reliably modified with a cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) surfactant to greatly improve the dispersity of the GO in a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer precursor solution. Subsequent electrospinning of the mixture readily resulted in the formation of GO–PAN composite nanofibers containing [...] Read more.
Exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) was reliably modified with a cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) surfactant to greatly improve the dispersity of the GO in a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) polymer precursor solution. Subsequent electrospinning of the mixture readily resulted in the formation of GO–PAN composite nanofibers containing up to 30 wt % of GO as a filler without notable defects. The absence of common electrospinning problems associated with clogging and phase separation indicated the systematic and uniform integration of the GO within the PAN nanofibers beyond the typical limits. After thoroughly examining the formation and maximum loading efficiency of the modified GO in the PAN nanofibers, the resulting composite nanofibers were thermally treated to form membrane-type sheets. The wettability and pore properties of the composite membranes were notably improved with respect to the pristine PAN nanofiber membrane, possibly due to the reinforcing filler effect. In addition, the more GO loaded into the PAN nanofiber membranes, the higher the removal ability of the methylene blue (MB) and methyl red (MR) dyes in the aqueous system. The adsorption kinetics of a mixed dye solution were also monitored to understand how these MB and MR dyes interact differently with the composite nanofiber membranes. The simple surface modification of the fillers greatly facilitated the integration efficiency and improved the ability to control the overall physical properties of the nanofiber-based membranes, which highly impacted the removal performance of various dyes from water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes)
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23 pages, 4857 KiB  
Article
Biopolymeric Membrane Enriched with Chitosan and Silver for Metallic Ions Removal
by Simona Căprărescu, Roxana Gabriela Zgârian, Graţiela Teodora Tihan, Violeta Purcar, Eugenia Eftimie Totu, Cristina Modrogan, Anita-Laura Chiriac and Cristian Andi Nicolae
Polymers 2020, 12(8), 1792; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12081792 - 10 Aug 2020
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 3070
Abstract
The present paper synthesized, characterized, and evaluated the performance of the novel biopolymeric membrane enriched with cellulose acetate and chitosan (CHI)-silver (Ag) ions in order to remove iron ion from the synthetic wastewater using a new electrodialysis system. The prepared membranes were characterized [...] Read more.
The present paper synthesized, characterized, and evaluated the performance of the novel biopolymeric membrane enriched with cellulose acetate and chitosan (CHI)-silver (Ag) ions in order to remove iron ion from the synthetic wastewater using a new electrodialysis system. The prepared membranes were characterized by Fourier Transforms Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflection (FTIR-ATR), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Thermal Analysis (DSC), contact angle measurements, microscopy studies, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The electrodialysis experiments were performed at the different applied voltages (5, 10, and 15 V) for one hour, at room temperature. The treatment rate (TE) of iron ions, current efficiency (IE), and energy consumption (Wc) were calculated. FTIR-ATR spectra evidenced that incorporation of CHI-Ag ions into the polymer mixture led to a polymer-metal ion complex formation within the membrane. The TGA-DSC analysis for the obtained biopolymeric membranes showed excellent thermal stability (>350 °C). The contact angle measurements demonstrated the hydrophobic character of the polymeric membrane and a decrease of it by CHI-Ag adding. The EIS results indicated that the silver ions induced a higher ionic electrical conductivity. The highest value of the iron ions treatment rate (>60%) was obtained for the biopolymeric membrane with CHI-Ag ions at applied voltage of 15 V. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Nanofiber Membranes)
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