Novel lower critical solution temperature phase transition materials effectively control osmosis by mild temperature changes

Abstract

Osmosis can be controlled reversibly and effectively by mild temperature changes based on novel thermosensitive solutes with LCST transition. The nBu-TAEA thermosensitive solution can draw fresh water from seawater at temperatures less than the phase separation temperature, and the osmotic flow was reversed at higher temperatures.

Magnetic nanoparticles boosting the osmotic efficiency of a polymeric FO draw agent: Effect of polymer conformation

“…The terminology "smart" has been frequently linked to stimuli-responsiveness like temperature or magnetic-field responsive materials. Polymer hydrogels have been recently demonstrated as thermo-sensitive agents that can be recycled by changing the temperature of the draw solution above the critical point of the polymer [20,[30][31][32]. However, the osmotic pressure of these materials was not high enough to drive a cost effective FO process.…”

Reversible Calcium(II)‐Ion Binding through an Apparent pKa Shift of Thermosensitive Block‐Copolymer Micelles

“…[29] To exclude this possibility that there is no effective pK a shift at 38 8 8Cand thus hardly any proton counterions,s ot hat calcium(II) counterions dominate the surface of the hydrophobic collapsed micelles,weused asimple Donnan equilibrium model for 2:1 electrolytes to estimate the equilibrium ion distributions for two cases (see the Supporting Information). Af ractional binding of 0.14 was found at 38 8 8Cfor the case in which there are mainly Hc ounterions (protonation) and af ractional binding of 0.75 for the case in which there are mainly calcium(II) counterions.S ince the mean experimental fractional binding at 38 8 8Ci sa bout 0.19 (Figure 3), this result supports our hypothesis that an apparent pK a shift is mainly responsible for the observed reversible calcium(II) binding.…”

Evaluation of poly (aspartic acid sodium salt) as a draw solute for forward osmosis

“…Solutes such as N-acylated polyethyleneimine (PEI) derivatives and poly (sodium styrene-4-sulfonate-co-n-isopropylacrylamide) (PSSS-PNIPAM) are soluble in water under their lower critical solution temperature (LCST), but agglomeration of polymer chains occurs above the LCST (Noh et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2014). Based on this thermoresponsivity, the diluted draw solutes can be easily concentrated by thermal recovery methods such as membrane distillation (MD).…”

“…Draw solutes based on thermosensitive materials with temperature dependent phase separation behavior have received increasing attention (Ling et al, 2011;Noh et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2014;Cai et al, 2013). Solutes such as N-acylated polyethyleneimine (PEI) derivatives and poly (sodium styrene-4-sulfonate-co-n-isopropylacrylamide) (PSSS-PNIPAM) are soluble in water under their lower critical solution temperature (LCST), but agglomeration of polymer chains occurs above the LCST (Noh et al, 2012;Zhao et al, 2014).…”