Special Issue "Responsive Polymer Membranes"

Guest Editor
Dr. Annarosa Gugliuzza
Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), 87030 Rende (CS), Italy
E-Mail: a.gugliuzza@itm.cnr.it
Phone: +39 984 492026
Fax: +39 984 402103
Interests: high-defihigh-definition polymeric nanostructured and nanocomposite membranes; greener tailoring nanotechnologies; intelligent membranes; membrane preparation/characterization/phase inversion; surface/transport properties; free-standing membranes for contactors, reactors, sensing devices, textile, packaging and gas separation purposes; polymers and materials Contribution: Special Issue: Responsive Polymer Membranes nition polymeric nanostructured and nanocomposite membranes; greener tailoring nanotechnologies; intelligent membranes; membrane preparation/characterization/phase inversion; surface/transport properties; free-standing membranes for contactors, reactors, sensing devices, textile, packaging and gas separation purposes; polymers and materials

Dear Colleagues,

Responsive polymeric membranes and smart gels are sophisticated systems where permeability valves can be controlled by external triggers through on-off switches. Synthesis and assembly of smart materials represent an attractive issue for the realization of nanodevices that may find application in (bio)sensors, actuators, drug delivery systems, drug discovery, clinical diagnostics, microfluidic systems, (bio)separations, purification, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

For coming years, the transit from passive to ultra-smart membranes is expected to bring key advances and innovation in Health, Environment, Food and Textile, yielding the real opportunity to combine efficiency with safety and security.

The category of responsive membranes associates adaptive ability with reactive functions when changing surrounding media and includes flat and hollow-fiber membranes, nanocomposites layers, free-standing hydrogels, micro-capsules, switchable interfaces, core-shell structures.

In all these cases, controlled porosity, texture and chemical composition are coupled with adaptive properties, such as pH-response, ionic-strength-response, thermo-response, light-response, electrical and magnetic-response and molecular-recognition.

Complementary functions, including sensitivity and programmed transport, are expected to be confined in restricted spaces through synergic synthetic methods and processing techniques.

In this respect, this special issue welcomes original papers and reviews that reflect breakthroughs in:

1. Synthesis of materials with controlled structure and chemical composition that show selective responsiveness.
   
   
2. Sophisticated fabrication strategies to build up engineered structures where sensing, biosensing, separation, catalysis, and delivery properties are interplayed on multiple scale lengths.
   
   
3. Molecular design based on experimental and theoretical studies dedicated to the understanding of ‘on-off valves’ mechanisms.
   
   
4. Emerging applications including target-molecule delivery, micro-reactors, scaffolds, micro and ultrafiltration, switchable surfaces, active sensors and tissue engineering.
   
   
5. System integration: working sensing systems, microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip.

Dr. Annarosa Gugliuzza
Guest Editor

Submission

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. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as 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 refereed through a 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 quarterly 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 300 CHF (Swiss Francs). English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• sensing membranes
• sensors
• intelligent materials
• actuators
• adaptive systems