• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.101-119
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• 2021

The demand for clean water is virtually present in all modern human societies even as our society has developed increasingly more advanced and sophisticated technologies to improve human life. However, as global climate change begins to show more dramatic effects in many regions in the world, the demand for a cheap, effective way to treat wastewater or to remove harmful bacteria, microbes, viruses, and other solvents detrimental to human health has continued to remain present and remains as important as ever. Well-established synthetic membranes composed of polyaniline (PANI), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and others have been extensively studied to gather information regarding the characteristics and performance of the membrane, but recent studies have shown that making these synthetic membranes conductive to electrical current by doping the membrane with another material or incorporating conductive materials onto the surface of the membrane, such as allotropes of carbon, have shown to increase the performance of these membranes by allowing the adjustability of pore size, improving antifouling and making the antibacterial property better. In this review, modern electrically conductive membranes are compared to conventional membranes and their performance improvements under electric fields are discussed, as well as their potential in water filtration and wastewater treatment applications.