Role of functional nanoparticles to enhance the polymeric membrane performance for mixture gas separation

Nanocomposite and bio-nanocomposite polymeric materials/membranes development in energy and medical sector: A review

Nanocomposite and bio-nanocomposite polymer materials/membranes have fascinated prominent attention in the energy as well as the medical sector. Their composites make them appropriate choices for various applications in the medical, energy and industrial sectors. Composite materials are subject of interest in the polymer industry. Different kinds of fillers, such as cellulose-based fillers, carbon black, clay nanomaterials, glass fibers, ceramic nanomaterial, carbon quantum dots, talc and many others have been incorporated into polymers to improve the quality of the final product. These results are dependent on a variety of factors; however, nanoparticle dispersion and distribution are major obstacles to fully using nanocomposites/bio-nanocomposites materials/membranes in various applications. This review examines the various nanocomposite and bio-nanocomposite materials applications in the energy and medical sector. The review also covers the variety of ways for increasing nanocomposite and bio-nanocomposite materials features, each with its own set of applications. Recent researches on composite materials have shown that polymeric nanocomposites and bio-nanocomposites are promising materials that have been intensively explored for many applications that include electronics, environmental remediation, energy, sensing (biosensor) and energy storage devices among other applications. In this review, we studied various nanocomposite and bio-nanocomposite materials, their controlling parameters to develop the product and examine their features and applications in the fields of energy and the medical sector.

Influence of nitrogen/phosphorus-doped carbon dots on polyamide thin film membranes for water vapor/N2 mixture gas separation

Nanoparticles have been attracting attention because they can significantly improve the performance of membranes when added in small amounts. In this study, the effect of polyamide membranes incorporating hydrophilic nitrogen/phosphorus-doped carbon dots (NP-CDs) to enhance water vapor/N₂ separation has been investigated. NP-CD nanoparticles with many hydrophilic functional groups are synthesized from chitosan by a one-pot green method and introduced to the surface of the polysulfone (PSf) substrates by interfacial polymerization reaction. The mean particle diameter of NP-CDs, estimated from transmission electron microscopy images, is 2.6 nm. By adding NP-CDs (0–1.5 wt%) to the polyamide layer, the contact angles of the membranes dramatically decreased from 65° (PSf) to <9° (thin film nanocomposite (TFN)), which means that the TFN membranes become significantly hydrophilic. From the water vapor separation results, the addition of NP-CDs in the polyamide layer improves the water vapor permeance from 1511 (thin film composite (TFC) without nanoparticles) to 2448 GPU (TFN with 1.0 wt% NP-CD loading, CD-TFN(1.0)) and the water vapor/N₂ selectivity from 73 (TFC) to 854 (CD-TFN(1.0)). To our knowledge, this is the first study of highly functionalized NP-CD-incorporated polyamide membranes to enhance water vapor separation.

Nanoparticles have been attracting attention because they can significantly improve the performance of membranes when added in small amounts.

Stability and pervaporation characteristics of PVA and its blend with PVAm membranes in a ternary feed mixture containing highly reactive epichlorohydrin

In order to find an alternative for classical distillation in the recovery of ECH/IPA from azeotropic ECH/IPA/water (50/30/20 w/w, %) mixtures, a pervaporation process has been applied. Membranes from the crosslinking of poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(vinyl amine) (PVA/PVAm) were prepared, and then the membrane stability and pervaporation efficiency of the crosslinked PVA/PVAm membranes were studied for highly reactive ECH systems containing a ternary feed mixture. From the Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy analysis, it was observed that all of the membranes were chemically stable for 15 days of immersion in a 50 : 30 : 20 ECH/IPA/water (w/w, %) feed mixture at 60 °C. The degree of membrane swelling increased with increasing PVAm content in the membrane composition, water content in the feed composition, and feed temperature, which was attributed to the increase in the number of hydrophilic sites in the membrane. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) study revealed that higher PVAm content membranes (PVAm1.0 and PVAm1.5) show polymer phase extraction in ECH/IPA/water (50 : 30 : 20) (w/w, %) at 60 °C in long-term stability tests. The pervaporation dehydration characteristics for all of the membranes with the feed comprising an ECH/IPA/water (50 : 30 : 20 by weight) azeotropic mixture at 30 °C were examined and excellent pervaporation dehydration efficiency was found. Quantitatively, the flux increased from 0.025 to 0.32 kg (m2 h)-1 and the separation factor decreased from 1908 to 60 with increasing PVAm content in the blended membrane.