Bio-Based Hybrid Membranes for Sustainable Desalination, Oil/Water Separation, Water Harvesting and Environmental Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing global demand for clean water, environmental protection and sustainable resource management has accelerated the development of next-generation membrane technologies based on renewable materials and environmentally responsible design principles. Bio-based hybrid membranes, which integrate renewable biopolymers with advanced nanomaterials, functional interfaces and bio-inspired architectures, provide promising solutions to overcome the limitations of conventional petroleum-derived membrane systems, including insufficient antifouling capability, limited durability and environmental concerns. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in the design, fabrication, characterization and application of sustainable bio-based hybrid membranes for advanced water purification, separation and environmental remediation. Particular emphasis will be placed on multifunctional membrane systems that combine renewable materials with nanostructure engineering and interfacial regulation to achieve enhanced selectivity, permeability, fouling resistance, durability and environmental compatibility.

The Special Issue will focus on emerging membrane technologies including nanofiltration, desalination, oil/water separation, emerging contaminant removal, atmospheric water harvesting and solar-driven water purification, while also addressing critical challenges associated with membrane scalability, energy efficiency, sustainability assessment and practical implementation. The Special Issue welcomes original research articles, review papers and short communications that advance both the fundamental understanding and practical implementation of next-generation bio-based membrane technologies. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Bio-based membrane materials derived from cellulose, nanocellulose, chitosan, alginate, lignin, proteins, PLA, PHA and other renewable resources for sustainable separation applications.
• Thin-film composite (TFC), thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) and bio-based selective-layer membranes for nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, forward osmosis and desalination.
• Hybrid bio-nanocomposite membranes incorporating graphene oxide, MXenes, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), carbon nanomaterials, nanoclays and other functional nanostructures.
• Nanofiltration membranes for water purification, water softening, heavy metal removal, pharmaceutical removal, micropollutant removal, PFAS removal and wastewater reclamation.
• Sustainable desalination technologies, including reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, membrane distillation, solar-driven desalination and treatment of high-salinity wastewater.
• Superwetting and bio-inspired membrane interfaces including superhydrophilic, underwater superoleophobic, superhydrophobic and Janus membranes for oil/water separation and emulsion treatment.
• Surface and interfacial engineering strategies for antifouling, anti-biofouling, anti-scaling, self-cleaning and long-term membrane stability.
• Bio-based membranes for oily wastewater treatment, produced water purification, marine oil-spill remediation and industrial wastewater management.
• Membrane technologies for emerging contaminants, including PFAS, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, endocrine-disrupting compounds, dyes and other persistent pollutants.
• Atmospheric water harvesting, fog collection, moisture capture and water generation using bio-based porous membranes and functional materials.
• Photothermal and solar-responsive membranes for solar steam generation, solar desalination and sustainable water purification.
• Sustainable membrane fabrication approaches, including green chemistry, solvent-free processing, electrospinning, freeze-casting, additive manufacturing (3D printing), plasma modification and bio-inspired fabrication.
• Smart and multifunctional membranes with sensing, catalytic, self-healing, anti-icing, adaptive separation and energy-related functionalities.
• Structure–property–performance relationships, molecular transport mechanisms, interfacial interactions, fouling mechanisms and membrane durability.
• Artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted membrane design, machine-learning-guided optimization, computational modeling and data-driven prediction of membrane performance.
• Scale-up strategies, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment (LCA) of sustainable bio-based membrane systems toward industrial implementation and circular water management.

Dr. Zubaida Rukhsana Usha
Dr. Nedal Abu-Thabit
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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.

• bio-based membranes
• hybrid nanocomposite membranes
• sustainable separation technologies
• nanofiltration
• desalination
• reverse osmosis
• forward osmosis
• membrane distillation
• oil/water separation
• emulsion separation
• superwetting interfaces
• underwater superoleophobicity
• antifouling membranes
• emerging contaminant removal
• PFAS removal
• microplastic removal
• atmospheric water harvesting
• solar water purification
• AI-assisted membrane design
• life-cycle assessment
• circular water economy