Recently, nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been drawing much attention in the field of filtration and the purification process of water/industrial effluents, because of their energy efficiency and low cost. Although reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are widely used in present desalination units, NF membranes are considered as "future membranes" for desalination, because of the low operating pressure. In the present paper, we hereby report the synthesis of a new composite NF membranes of poly(isobutylene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PIAM) with polysulfone, using a diffusion-induced phase separation (DIPS) method. The anhydride groups were converted to acid group by alkaline treatment. Newly prepared composite membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies. The membranes were tested for salt rejection and water swelling. The resulted NF membranes exhibited significantly enhanced water permeability while retaining high salt rejection. The flux and rejection rate of the NF membrane to Na 2 SO 4 (500 ppm) reached to 11.73 L/(m 2 h) and 49% rejection under 1 MPa and also 70:30 composition of the membrane showed 54% water swelling; contact angle measurement, ion exchange capacity, and water uptake of the membrane were recorded.

In the present study, carboxylated polysulfone (CPS) and Poly (1,4–phenylene ether ether–sulfone) (PPEES) NF membranes for their application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were investigated. New NF membranes were prepared by blending PPEES with CPS solution in NMP (5 wt. %) by the solution casting procedure using K–control coater. The membranes have been characterized by thermal analysis, water uptake, IEC measurements, proton conductivity performance and methanol crossover. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was at length used to decide proton conductivity. The addition of CPS increased the water uptake capability of the synthesized membrane and resulted in enhanced proton conductivity. The conductivity values in the range of 10–4 –10–2 S/cm were obtained for the new CPS–PPEES membranes. The conductivities of the membranes showed increasing trend as a function of operating temperature and wt. % of CPS. Membrane of the type CM1 gave the conductivity in the range of 0.12 S/cm at 100°C. The results showed that, CPS/PPEES is a promising membrane material for possible use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells.