Modeling of Membrane Formation

Dear Colleagues,

The formation of porous polymeric membranes is usually induced by a phase separation method: a homogeneous polymer solution (initially polymer/solvent or polymer/solvent/non-solvent system depending on the process) is quenched into the diphasic region by temperature change (TIPS process) or composition change (NIPS or dry-casting process). The final membrane morphology depends on many factors, including initial formulation, phase inversion process, exchange rates during the phase separation… Consequently, predicting the final membrane morphology remains very tricky, and trial and error process are still commonly used to reach targeted membrane morphology from a given polymer system.

During the last decades, modeling efforts have been done to better understand the relationship between the operating parameters (formulation, process parameters) and the membrane morphology. First models were based on the description of mass and heat transfers between the polymer solution and its environment. Composition paths were thus classically simulated and reported on phase diagrams to predict the final membrane morphology. More recently, promising efforts have been made in the modeling of the phase inversion dynamics itself at molecular and meso-scale: Molecular Dynamics, Dissipative Particle Dynamics, Lattice Monte Carlo, and Phase-field methods. This new area of modeling gives more opportunity to predict the whole phase inversion process, and hence the final morphology.

So, I am pleased to invite you to submit a paper to the special issue “Modeling of Membrane Formation”, which covers mass and heat transfers, molecular and meso-scale modeling methods. Authors are therefore invited to submit their latest results; both original papers and reviews are welcome.

Prof. Denis Bouyer
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. 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 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.

• Meso-scale Modeling
• Molecular Modeling
• Mass and heat transfer modeling
• Phase Inversion
• Phase Field Method
• Dissipative Particle Dynamics
• Lattice Monte Carlo