In situ preparation of COF-LZU1 in poly(ether-block-amide) membranes for efficient pervaporation of n-butanol/water mixture

Promising Fluorine-Free Ion Exchange Membranes Based on a Poly(ether-block-amide) Copolymer and Sulfonated Montmorillonite: Influence of Different Copolymer Segment Ratios

Novel composite membranes employing a poly(ether-block-amide) (PEBAX) copolymer and sulfonated montmorillonite (S-MMT) as a filler were developed. The ratio of polyether to polyamide blocks was investigated using PEBAX 2533 and PEBAX 4533 based on the membrane properties and performance. Additionally, the effect of the changing filler ratio was monitored. The interaction between the S-MMT as nanofiller and the polymer matrix of PEBAX2533 and PEBAX4533 as well as the crystalline nature and thermal and mechanical stability of the composite membranes were evaluated using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and tensile test. The composite membrane with 7 wt.% S-MMT showed the highest water uptake of 21% and 16% and an acceptable swelling degree of 16% and 9% for PEBAX 2533 and PEBAX 4533 composite membranes, respectively. In terms of water uptake and ion exchange capacity at room temperature, the new un-protonated membranes are superior to un-protonated Nafion. Meanwhile, with the same S-MMT content, the ion conductivity of PEBAX 2533 and PEBAX 4533 composite membranes is 2 and 1.6 mS/cm, and their ion exchange capacity is 0.9 and 1.10 meq/g.

Synthesis of COF-SO3H immobilized on manganese ferrite nanoparticles as an efficient nanocomposite in the preparation of spirooxindoles

The synthesis of sulfonamide-functionalized magnetic porous nanocomposites is highly significant in chemistry due to their exceptional properties and potential as catalysts. COFs are a new class of organic porous polymers and have significant advantages such as low density, high chemical and thermal stability, and mechanical strength. Therefore, we decided to synthesize COFs based on magnetic nanoparticles, by doing so, we can also prevent the agglomeration of MnFe2O4. MnFe2O4@COF-SO3H possesses a large specific surface area, supermagnetism, and is acidic, making it an optimal catalyst for organic reactions. This particular catalyst was effectively employed in the green and rapid synthesis of various spiro-pyrano chromenes, while several analytical techniques were utilized to analyze its structural integrity and functional groups. The role of a specific site of MnFe2O4@COF-SO3H was confirmed through different control experiments in a one-pot reaction mechanism. It was determined that MnFe2O4@COF-SO3H acts as a bifunctional acid-base catalyst in the one-pot preparation of spirooxindole derivatives. The formation of a spiro skeleton in the multicomponent reaction involved the construction of three new σ bonds (one C-O bond and two C-C bonds) within a single process. The efficiency of the MnFe2O4@COF-SO3H complex is investigated in the synthesis of spirooxindoles of malononitrile, and various isatins with 1,3-dicarbonyles. The nanocatalyst demonstrated excellent catalytic activity that gave the corresponding coupling products good to excellent yields. Furthermore, the heterogeneous magnetic nanocatalyst used in this study demonstrated recoverability after five cycles with minimal loss of activity.

Advanced Covalent Organic Framework-Based Membranes for Recovery of Ionic Resources

Membrane technology has shown a viable potential in conversion of liquid-waste or high-salt streams to fresh waters and resources. However, the non-adjustability pore size of traditional membranes limits the application of ion capture due to their low selectivity for target ions. Recently, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have become a promising candidate for construction of advanced ion separation membranes for ion resource recovery due to their low density, large surface area, tunable channel structure, and tailored functionality. This tutorial review aims to analyze and summarize the progress in understanding ion capture mechanisms, preparation processes, and applications of COF-based membranes. First, the design principles for target ion selectivity are illustrated in terms of theoretical simulation of ions transport in COFs, and key properties for ion selectivity of COFs and COF-based membranes. Next, the fabrication methods of diverse COF-based membranes are classified into pure COF membranes, COF continuous membranes, and COF mixed matrix membranes. Finally, current applications of COF-based membranes are highlighted: desalination, extraction, removal of toxic metal ions, radionuclides and lithium, and acid recovery. This review presents promising approaches for design, preparation, and application of COF-based membranes in ion selectivity for recovery of ionic resources.

Recent Advancements in the Recovery and Reuse of Organic Solvents Using Novel Nanomaterial-Based Membranes for Renewable Energy Applications

The energy crisis in the world is increasing rapidly owing to the shortage of fossil fuel reserves. Climate change and an increase in global warming necessitates a change in focus from petroleum-based fuels to renewable fuels such as biofuels. The remodeling of existing separation processes using various nanomaterials is of a growing interest to industrial separation methods. Recently, the design of membrane technologies has been the most focused research area concerning fermentation broth to enhance performance efficiency, while recovering those byproducts to be used as value added fuels. Specifically, the use of novel nano material membranes, which brings about a selective permeation of the byproducts, such as organic solvent, from the fermentation broth, positively affects the fermentation kinetics by eliminating the issue of product inhibition. In this review, which and how membrane-based technologies using novel materials can improve the separation performance of organic solvents is considered. In particular, technical approaches suggested in previous studies are discussed with the goal of emphasizing benefits and problems faced in order to direct research towards an optimized membrane separation performance for renewable fuel production on a commercial scale.

In Situ Growth of COF on PAN Nanofibers to Improve Proton Conductivity and Dimensional Stability in Proton Exchange Membranes

Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) polymer is considered as a proton exchange membrane material with great potential. Nevertheless, excessive water absorption caused by abundant sulfonic acid groups makes PFSA have low dimensional stabilities. In order to improve the dimensional stability of PFSA membranes, nanofibers are introduced into PFSA membranes. However, because nanofibers lack proton conducting groups, it usually reduces the proton conductivities of PFSA membranes. It is a challenge to improve dimensional stabilities while maintaining high proton conductivities. Due to the structural designability, covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with proton conductive groups are chosen to improve the overall performance of PFSA membranes. Herein, COFs synthesized in situ on three-dimensional PAN nanofibers were introduced into PFSA to prepare PFSA@PAN/TpPa-SO3H sandwiched membranes. The PFSA@PAN/TpPa-SO3H-5 composite membrane exhibited outstanding proton conductivity, which reached 260.81 mS·cm−1 at 80 °C and 100% RH, and only decreased by 4.7% in 264 h. The power density of a single fuel cell with PFSA@PAN/TpPa-SO3H-5 was as high as 392.7 mW·cm−2. Compared with the pristine PFSA membrane, the conductivity of PFSA@PAN/TpPa-SO3H-5 increased by 70.0 mS·cm−1, and the area swelling ratio decreased by 8.1%. Our work provides a novel strategy to prepare continuous proton transport channels to simultaneously improve conductivities and dimensional stabilities of proton exchange membranes.

Pervaporation as a Successful Tool in the Treatment of Industrial Liquid Mixtures

Pervaporation is one of the most active topics in membrane research, and it has time and again proven to be an essential component for chemical separation. It has been employed in the removal of impurities from raw materials, separation of products and by-products after reaction, and separation of pollutants from water. Given the global problem of water pollution, this approach is efficient in removing hazardous substances from water bodies. Conventional processes are based on thermodynamic equilibria involving a phase transition such as distillation and liquid-liquid extraction. These techniques have a relatively low efficacy and nowadays they are not recommended because it is not sustainable in terms of energy consumption and/or waste generation. Pervaporation emerged in the 1980s and is now becoming a popular membrane separation technology because of its intrinsic features such as low energy requirements, cheap separation costs, and good quality product output. The focus of this review is on current developments in pervaporation, mass transport in membranes, material selection, fabrication and characterization techniques, and applications of various membranes in the separation of chemicals from water.

In Situ Growth of Cationic Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) for Mixed Matrix Membranes with Enhanced Performances

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are increasingly utilized as doping agents for the design of advanced ultrafiltration mixed matrix membranes, thanks to their prominent nanoporosity and excellent polymer compatibility. However, current strategies are largely limited in the complicated postaddition of neutral COF particulates. Herein, cationic COFs, namely, TpEB, with sizes down to ∼39 nm are in situ synthesized in polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution as crystalline fillers for the production of highly permeable TpEB-PAN ultrafiltration membranes. After the condensation of monomer pairs, the growth of cationic TpEB crystallites is restrained due to the electrostatic interaction with negatively charged PAN chains, leading to the formation of a homogeneous TpEB-incorporated casting solution. During the subsequent nonsolvent-induced phase separation process, TpEB crystallites facilitate exchange between the solvent and the nonsolvent because of their hydrophilic and nanoporous nature, accelerating the rate of phase inversion to form a highly porous membrane surface. Thus-prepared TpEB-PAN membranes deliver a tight rejection of BSA with water permeance of up to 380 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1, which is 35.6% higher than that of the original PAN membranes prepared without TpEB. The TpEB-PAN membranes also exhibit enhanced operation stabilities and fouling resistances. This in situ growth strategy suggests a new avenue for the preparation of advanced mixed matrix membranes.

Metal and Covalent Organic Frameworks for Membrane Applications

Better and more efficient membranes are needed to face imminent and future scientific, technological and societal challenges. New materials endowed with enhanced properties are required for the preparation of such membranes. Metal and Covalent Organic Frameworks (MOFs and COFs) are a new class of crystalline porous materials with large surface area, tuneable pore size, structure, and functionality, making them a perfect candidate for membrane applications. In recent years an enormous number of articles have been published on the use of MOFs and COFs in preparation of membranes for various applications. This review gathers the work reported on the synthesis and preparation of membranes containing MOFs and COFs in the last 10 years. Here we give an overview on membranes and their use in separation technology, discussing the essential factors in their synthesis as well as their limitations. A full detailed summary of the preparation and characterization methods used for MOF and COF membranes is given. Finally, applications of these membranes in gas and liquid separation as well as fuel cells are discussed. This review is aimed at both experts in the field and newcomers, including students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, who would like to learn about preparation of membranes from crystalline porous materials.

Enhancement in pervaporative performance of PDMS membrane for separation of styrene from wastewater by hybridizing with reduced graphene oxide

The removal of styrene from wastewater by pervaporation was investigated by using composite PDMS membranes filled with reduced graphene oxide on PES support layers. Graphene oxide was synthesized through modified Hummers' method and then chemically reduced. The filler was characterized by TEM, SEM, XRD, and AFM. The top layers with different PDMS molecular weights were cast on the PES supports, which were prepared by phase inversion method. The characterizations of prepared membranes were investigated by SEM, AFM, contact angle measurement, TGA, and DSC. It was observed that presence of the filler in the polymeric matrix controls the swelling of the membrane and enhances its solubility parameter in favor of styrene. Moreover, it significantly improves the thermal stability of the membranes. The mechanism of separation in the process was found to be affected mainly by enhancing in the membrane's solubility rather than in its diffusivity. The pervaporative performance of prepared membranes showed their great affinity toward styrene so that the separation factor of the optimum membrane (M2/S) was increased about 250% (600.4 in comparison to 241.4 for the unfilled membrane) while its total flux was decreased from 772.5 g m^-2.h^-1for the unfilled membrane to 321.9 g m^-2.h^-1. Increasing the molecular weight of PDMS lowered the optimal rGO content due to the complexity of the diffusion path and occupation of free volume by longer polymer chains. Accordingly, a lower total flux (124.7 g m^-2.h^-1 for high MW compared to 718.0 g m^-2.h^-1 for low MW) and higher separation factor (822.5 for high MW compared to 230.8 for low MW) were yielded for the same filler content (0.1 wt% rGO).

A Ni/Fe complex incorporated into a covalent organic framework as a single-site heterogeneous catalyst for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

A solid COF framework served as the seeding of supported single-site catalysts to graft Ni/Fe complex molecular catalyst similar to homogeneous catalysts by one-pot post-synthetic modification.

Polysulfone Membranes Embedded with Halloysites Nanotubes: Preparation and Properties

In the present study, nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes were prepared by incorporating nanotubes clay halloysite (HNTs) into polysulfone (PSF) and PSF/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) dope solutions followed by membrane casting using phase inversion method. Characterization of HNTs were conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis. The pore structure, morphology, hydrophilicity and mechanical properties of the composite membranes were characterized by using SEM, water contact angle (WCA) measurements, and dynamic mechanical analysis. It was shown that the incorporation of HNTs enhanced hydrophilicity and mechanical properties of the prepared PSF membranes. Compared to the pristine PSF membrane, results show that the total porosity and pore size of PSF/HNTs composite membranes increased when HNTs loadings were more than 0.5 wt % and 1.0 wt %, respectively. These findings correlate well with changes in water flux of the prepared membranes. It was observed that HNTs were homogenously dispersed within the PSF membrane matrix at HNTs content of 0.1 to 0.5 wt % and the PSF/HNTs membranes prepared by incorporating 0.2 wt % HNTs loading possess the optimal mechanical properties in terms of elastic modulus and yield stress. In the case of the PSF/PVP matrix, the optimal mechanical properties were obtained with 0.3 wt % of HNTs because PVP enhances the HNTs distribution. Results of bovine serum albumin (BSA) filtration tests indicated that PSF/0.2 wt % HNTs membrane exhibited high BSA rejection and notable anti-fouling properties.