• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.448-452
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• 2014

Nanocomposite membrane to show facilitated olefin transport was prepared for enhanced separation performance. Addtion of halogen molecules into PVP/AgNPs/ TCNQ nanocomposite membrane was expected to further polarize the surface of AgNPs for enhancing the separation performance. The formation of AgNPs and presence of iodine was confirmed by TEM and EDS analysis, respectively. The separation performance for propylene/propane mixture was compared with that of PVP/AgNPs/TCNQ nanocomposite membrane. The long-term stability of membrane was investigated with time.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.373-379
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• 2021

A series of novel PBI/SrTiO₃ nanocomposite membranes composed of polybenzimidazole (PBI) and strontium titanate (SrTiO₃) with a perovskite structure were fabricated with various concentrations of SrTiO₃ through a solution casting method. Various characterization techniques such as proton nuclear magnetic resonance, thermogravimetric analysis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and AC impedance spectroscopy were used to investigate the chemical structure, thermal, phosphate absorption and morphological properties, and proton conductivity of the fabricated nanocomposite membranes. The optimized PBI/SrTiO₃-8 polymer nanocomposite membrane containing 8wt% of SrTiO₃ showed a higher proton conductivity of 7.95 × 10^-2 S/cm at 160℃ compared to other nanocomposite membranes. The PBI/SrTiO₃-8 composite membrane also showed higher thermal stability compared to pristine PBI. In addition, the roughness change of the polymer composite membrane was also investigated by AFM. Based on these results, nanocomposite membranes based on perovskite structures are expected to be considered as potential candidates for high-temperature PEM fuel cell applications.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.17-23
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• 2015

Natural cellulose hydrogel membrane cannot be directly used for cell encapsulation because it has many large pores on the surface that immune biomolecules are able to penetrate into easily. For the reason, alginate was used for the control of pore size of the cellulose hydrogel membrane. The surface morphology of cellulose/alginate nanocomposite confirmed the successful control of the porosity of the membrane. The permeability of the cellulose/alginate nanocomposite was decreased but mechanical properties were increased compared with the bacterial cellulose membrane. The cellulose/alginate nanocomposite could be used for the functional membrane as a promising biomedical material in the future.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.351-364
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• 2016

In recent decades, many researchers have tried to improve desalination performances of polyamide (PA) thin-film composite membranes (TFCs) by incorporating nanomaterials into a selective PA layer. This review focuses on PA-based nanocomposite membranes with high performances for energy-effective desalination in reverse osmosis. Carbon based nanomaterial (e.g., graphene oxide (GO), carbon nanotubes (CNT)) and/or other nanoparticles (e.g., zeolite, silica and etc.,) were applied to overcome the trade-off correlation between water permeability and salt rejection of current polymeric desalination membranes. Here, this brief review will discuss current studies of PA-based nanocomposite membranes with enhanced separation characteristics and provide the future research direction to achieve further improved desalination performances.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2018

Forward osmosis (FO) desalination system has been highlighted to improve the energy efficiency and drive down the carbon footprint of current reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technology. To improve the trade-off between water flux and salt rejection of thin film composite (TFC) desalination membrane, thin film nanocomposite membranes (TFN), in which nanomaterials as a filler are embeded within a polymeric matrix, are being explored to tailor the separation performance and add new functionality to membranes for water purification applications. The objective of this article is to develop a graphene nanocomposite membrane with high performance of water selective permeability (high water flux, high salt rejection, and low reverse solute diffusion) as a next-generation FO desalination membrane. For advances in fabrication of graphene oxide (GO) membranes, layer-by-layer (LBL) technique was used to control the desirable structure, alignment, and chemical functionality that can lead to ultrahigh-permeability membranes due to highly selective transport of water molecules. In this study, the GO nanocomposite membrane fabricated by LBL dip coating method showed high water flux ($J_w/{\Delta}{\pi}=2.51LMH/bar$), water selectivity ($J_w/J_s=8.3L/g$), and salt rejection (99.5%) as well as high stability in aqueous solution and under FO operation condition.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.2657-2662
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• 2013

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-g-poly (aniline-co-2,5-diaminobenzenesulfonic acid) (DABSA) reinforced Nafion$^{(R)}$ nanocomposite membranes were prepared and characterized for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The nanocomposite membranes with approximately $90{\mu}m$ thickness were prepared by the water assisted solution casting method. To evaluate the properties of nanocomposite membranes for DMFC applications, the nanocomposite membranes were characterized by methanol and water uptake, thermal stability, and ion exchange capacity (IEC). Furthermore, oxidative stability measurements in terms of the hydrogen peroxide decomposition rate that represent the oxidative stability of the membranes were examined. The methanol uptake values of the nanocomposite membranes were dramatically decreased compared to the cast Nafion$^{(R)}$ membranes. The IEC values of the nanocomposite membranes were increased about 30% compared to the cast Nafion$^{(R)}$ membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 2013

The effect of layered double hydroxides (LDH) on the gas separation properties of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer was investigated. Mg-Al LDH/EVA nanocomposite membranes were prepared from solution intercalation using organically modified LDH (DS-LDH). Dodecyl sulfate (DS)-LDH was obtained by the intercalation of DS anion in the interlayer. The nanocomposite structure has been elucidated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD pattern clearly shows that the DS-LDH layers are disorderly well dispersed in the EVA matrix. The maximum tensile strength and elongation of the LDH/EVA nanocomposite membrane were found with the LDH content 3 wt%. The thermal properties of nanocompostie membrane were enhanced by the incorporation of LDH in EVA matrix. Gas permeation of LDH/EVA nanocomposite membranes with LDH contents of 1, 3, 5 wt% was studied for $O_2$ and $CO_2$ single gases. The presence of 3 wt% LDH decreased $O_2$ permeability by up to 53% compared to the EVA membrane. In spite of barrier property of nanocomposite membrane, however, the gas permeability for $CO_2$ was increased due to its strong affinity with the residual OH groups on the LDH.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.290-296
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• 2010

Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA-28)/Co-Al LDH nanocomposite membranes were prepared by solution intercalation using organically modified LDH. LDH was made organophilic by the intercalation of dodecyl sulfate (DS) anion in the interlayer. The prepared membranes were characterized using XRD, FT-IR and SEM. Gas permeability of EVA/LDH nanocomposite membranes with LDH content of 1, 3, and 5 w% was studied for $O_2$ and $CO_2$ at pressure of 3, 4, and 5 bar. The permeability of $O_2$ and $CO_2$ was minimum for nanocomposite membrane with 1 wt% LDH and increased with increasing LDH content, which is presumably due to aggregation of LDH filler. The selectivity of $CO_2$ for $O_2$ showed the maximum value at 1 wt% of LDH content and decreased thereafter.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.514-521
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• 2010

A new one-shot process was employed to fabricate proton exchange membranes (PEMs) over conventional solvent-casting process. Here, PEMs containing nano-dispersed silica nanoparticles were fabricated using one-shot process similar to the bulk-molding compounds (BMC). Different components such as reactive dispersant, urethane acrylate nonionmer (UAN), styrene, styrene sulfuric acid and silica nano particles were dissolved in a single solvent dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) followed by copolymerization within a mold in the presence of radical initiator. We have successfully studied the water-swelling and proton conductivity of obtained nanocomposite membranes which are strongly depended on the surface property of dispersed silica nano particles. In case of dispersion of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles, the nanocomposite membranes exhibited an increase in water-swelling and a decrease in methanol permeability with almost unchanged proton conductivity compared to neat polymeric membrane. The reverse observations were achieved for hydrophobic silica nanoparticles. Hence, hydrophilic and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles were effectively dispersed in hydrophilic and hydrophobic medium respectively. Hydrophobic silica nanoparticles dispersed in hydrophobic domains of PEMs largely suppressed swelling of hydrophilic domains by absorbing water without interrupting proton conduction occurred in hydrophilic membrane. Consequently, proton conductivity and water-swelling could be freely controlled by simply dispersing silica nanopartilces within the membrane.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.225-244
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• 2017

A novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) reverse osmosis (RO)/non-woven fabric (NWF) membrane was prepared by adding zinc oxide (ZnO) nanospheres ($30{\pm}10nm$) during the interfacial polymerization process of m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on self-made polysulfone (PSF) membrane/polyester (PET) non-woven fabric support. The improved performance of TFN RO membrane was verified in terms of water contact angle (WCA), water flux, salt rejection, antifouling properties and chlorine resistance. The results showed that the WCA value of TFN RO surface had a continuous decrease with the increasing of ZnO content in MPD aqueous solution. The water flux of composite TFN RO membranes acquired a remarkable increase with a stable high solute rejection (94.5 %) in $1g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ NaCl aqueous solution under the optimized addition amount of ZnO (1 wt%). The continuous testing of membrane separation performance after the immersion in sodium hypochlorite solution indicated that the introduction of ZnO nanospheres also dramatically enhanced the antifouling properties and the chlorine resistance of composite RO membranes.