Preparation, Characterization, and Application of Advanced Separation Membrane Materials

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 1532

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute for the Environment and Health, Nanjing University Suzhou Campus, Suzhou 215163, China
Interests: advanced porous materials; liquid separation membranes; membrane process intensification; smart membrane technology and sustainable membrane processes

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Guest Editor
College of Materials and Chemical Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, China
Interests: advanced membrane materials; nanofiltration; ionic separations; pervaporation; mass transfer mechanisms

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the past decade, the scientific community has shown great enthusiasm for the research of advanced separation membrane materials. Very recently, crystalline materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with large surface area, diverse functionality, and excellent chemical stability have been regarded as an emerging member in the family of advanced separation membrane materials. The availability of these advanced separation membrane materials has also experienced impressive growth over the past decade that finds a prolific manifestation in numerous energy and environmental applications. Despite the exciting achievements in the field of advanced separation membrane materials, challenges still exist. The studies on emerging advanced separation membrane materials are still in the infant stage. Large-scale production of advanced separation membrane materials with high quality and controlled structure has yet to be realized for ultimate industrialization. Furthermore, the precise manipulation of thicknesses, functionalities, topologies, and crystal phases of advanced separation membrane materials as well as advanced characterization are still of challenge. The commercialization of advanced separation membrane materials in daily life will be a major milestone and we still need to contribute nonstop efforts to achieve this goal. Targeting these goals, here, we are pleased to invite you to submit your research for publication in a Special Issue on “Preparation, Characterization, and Application of Advanced Separation Membrane Materials”.

This special issue aims to provide the recent advances in the field of advanced separation membrane materials. We strongly believe that this issue will benefit researchers in diverse fields. We hope this issue could provide the readers with some representative and exciting views regarding the new developments and applications of advanced separation membrane materials.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Development of new materials for membrane separation
  • Novel fabrication processes and scale-up technologies for advanced separation membranes
  • Advanced characterization technologies for membranes
  • Precisely manipulation of physical/chemical structures of membranes
  • Analysis of mass transfer mechanisms in membranes
  • Stimuli-responsive smart membrane materials and applications
  • Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted membrane processes

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Hao Yang
Dr. Meidi Wang
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

  • advanced membrane materials
  • membrane preparation
  • membrane characterization
  • membrane scale-up
  • smart membranes
  • sustainable membrane processes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 21558 KiB  
Article
Ceramic Nanofiltration Membranes: Creating Nanopores by Calcination of Atmospheric-Pressure Molecular Layer Deposition Grown Titanicone Layers
by Harpreet Sondhi, Mingliang Chen, Michiel Pieter Nijboer, Arian Nijmeijer, Fred Roozeboom, Mikhael Bechelany, Alexey Kovalgin and Mieke Luiten-Olieman
Membranes 2025, 15(3), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes15030086 - 8 Mar 2025
Viewed by 737
Abstract
Ceramic membrane technology, whether applied as a stand-alone separation technology or in combination with energy-intensive approaches like distillation, is a promising solution for lower energy alternatives with minimal carbon footprints. To improve the separation of solutes in the nanofiltration range from industrial wastewater [...] Read more.
Ceramic membrane technology, whether applied as a stand-alone separation technology or in combination with energy-intensive approaches like distillation, is a promising solution for lower energy alternatives with minimal carbon footprints. To improve the separation of solutes in the nanofiltration range from industrial wastewater streams, ceramic nanofiltration (NF) membranes with reproducible sub-nanometre pore sizes are required. To achieve this, the emerging technique of molecular layer deposition (MLD) is employed to develop ceramic NF membranes, and its efficiency and versatility make it a powerful tool for preparing uniform nanoscale high-porosity membranes. Our work, which involved vapor-phase titanium tetrachloride as a precursor and ethylene glycol as a co-reactant, followed by calcination in air at 350 °C, resulted in NF membranes with pore sizes (radii) around ~0.8 ± 0.1 nm and a demineralized water permeability of 13 ± 1 L·m−2·h−1·bar−1.The high-water flux with >90% rejection of polyethylene glycol molecules with a molecular size larger than 380 ± 6 Dalton indicates the efficiency of the MLD technique in membrane functionalization and size-selective separation processes, and its potential for industrial applications. Full article
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16 pages, 3689 KiB  
Article
Gas and Steam Permeation Properties of Cation-Exchanged ZSM-5 Membrane
by Yuichiro Hirota, Masaki Nakai, Kasumi Tani, Koya Sakane, Ayumi Ikeda, Yasuhisa Hasegawa and Sadao Araki
Membranes 2025, 15(3), 70; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes15030070 - 1 Mar 2025
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Abstract
NaZSM-5 powder and membranes were hydrothermally prepared. Their (1) steam (H2O) adsorption properties and (2) the permeation and separation of gas and H2O were evaluated before and after the cation exchange of Na+ to K+ or Cs [...] Read more.
NaZSM-5 powder and membranes were hydrothermally prepared. Their (1) steam (H2O) adsorption properties and (2) the permeation and separation of gas and H2O were evaluated before and after the cation exchange of Na+ to K+ or Cs+. The quantity of adsorbed H2O decreased as the size of the cation increased, indicating that the micropore volume and effective pore size of ZSM-5 decreased after cation exchange. The H2 and N2 permeances after cation exchange were less than 5% of the values before cation exchange, indicating a significant reduction in gas permeability. In contrast, the reduction of the H2O permeance values of the ZSM-5 membranes before and after K+ or Cs+ exchange was lower than that of H2, resulting in improved H2O/H2 separation performance. Compared with the NaZSM-5 membrane, the K+- or Cs+-exchanged ZSM-5 membranes exhibited superior H2O permselectivity, particularly at dilute H2O concentrations (<1 vol%). Full article
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