Precisely Patterned Nanostrand Surface of Cucurbituril[n]-Based Nanofiltration Membranes for Effective Alcohol–Water Condensation

Abstract

Low concentration alcohols produced by state-of-theart biological fermentation restrict subsequent purification processes for chemical, pharmaceutical, biofuel, and other applications. Herein, a rarely reported cucurbituril[n] (n = 6, 8) is employed to pattern the thin-film composite membranes with controllable and quantifiable nanostrand structures through a host−guest strategy. The resulting nanofiltration membrane with such morphology is the first report that exhibits excellent separation performance for isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and water, condensing the initial 0.5 wt % IPA aqueous solution to 9.0 wt %. This not only provides a novel strategy for patterning nanostructural morphology but also makes nanofiltration membranes promising for alcohol condensation in the biological fermentation industry that may reduce energy consumption and postprocessing costs.

Breaking through permeability–selectivity trade‐off of thin‐film composite membranes assisted with crown ethers

“…2 Various water treatment technologies have been exploited in the past few decades to produce clean water. 3,4 For example, membrane-based separation techniques such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, [5][6][7] reverse osmosis and forward osmosis (FO) [8][9][10] have been implemented at various levels for desalination, wastewater and water treatment. The heart of the successful implementation of these technologies is a high-performance membrane with superior separation efficiency and excellent fouling resistance.…”

“…Key to sustaining this burgeoning growth is overcoming water scarcity for anthropogenic activities 2 . Various water treatment technologies have been exploited in the past few decades to produce clean water 3,4 . For example, membrane‐based separation techniques such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, 5‐7 reverse osmosis and forward osmosis (FO) 8‐10 have been implemented at various levels for desalination, wastewater and water treatment.…”

Dual‐layer membrane with hierarchical hydrophobicity and transport channels for nonpolar organic solvent nanofiltration

“…Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is an emerging technology that can separate solutes with a molecular weight of 100-1000 g/mol from organic solvents. [7][8][9][10][11] Comparing with the evaporation and rectification, OSN has higher energy efficiency, lower production costs, and fewer pollution emissions. 12,13 Therefore, OSN has captured increasing attention for solvent recovery, and solute purification in the food, fine chemical, and pharmaceutical.…”

“…Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is an emerging technology that can separate solutes with a molecular weight of 100–1000 g/mol from organic solvents 7‐11 . Comparing with the evaporation and rectification, OSN has higher energy efficiency, lower production costs, and fewer pollution emissions 12,13 .…”

Preparation of UiO‐66/DMBPTB and UiO‐66‐NH2/DMBPTB Nanocomposite Membranes with Enhanced CO2/CH4 Selectivity for Gas Separation

“…Although hundreds of high‐performance gas separation materials have been reported in literatures, [1–9] very few of them are commercialized. Inorganic membrane materials usually have high separation performance, but they are difficult to be scale‐up.…”