Surface and Interface Engineering of Polymer Membranes: Where We Are and Where to Go

Abstract

Surface and interface engineering provides a powerful tool to tailor the structures and properties of polymer membranes, sharpening their applications in sustainable development. Tremendous progress has been achieved in this field over the past 20 years. In this Perspective, we overview the conventional and emerging strategies for membrane surface engineering and present the current trends in surface and interface engineering for both porous and thin-film composite membranes. For porous membranes, the rise of Janus membranes motivates the evolution from uniform functionalization to asymmetric performance construction. For thin-film composite membranes, the research foci are moving to the surface modification of substrates, the fabrication of nanostructured interlayers, and especially the regulation of interfacial polymerization.

Sonochemical Routes to Superhydrophobic Soft Matter Coatings: Comparing Silica and Copper Oxide Coatings on Polyester Fabric

“…97 Controlled surface modification of coatings was possible by controlling the aggregate size of precursor suspensions, allowing for a chemically guided topography that affected variations in structure and property of substrates, yielding ideal particle sizes for desired applications. 140 Further substrate variation could allow for enhanced properties, e.g., enhanced water repellency by increasing the fabric thread density and reducing the floats. 17 While polyester has been reported here, the rough coating also produces good results on cotton fabric and other polymeric substrates.…”

“…In addition, the best-performing inexpensive fabric materials offer efficient oil/water separation, can feasibly be fabricated inexpensively on a large scale commercially and could be used as part of more complex multicomponent geotextile filtration systems in wastewater treatment or chemical processing. ,,, Sonochemical coating approaches can be applied at room temperature and pressure to synthesize various inorganic oxides with improved performance to construct micro/nano-structured functional surfaces that minimize pore cloggingas evidenced by the porous coated membranes produced here . Controlled surface modification of coatings was possible by controlling the aggregate size of precursor suspensions, allowing for a chemically guided topography that affected variations in structure and property of substrates, yielding ideal particle sizes for desired applications . Further substrate variation could allow for enhanced properties, e.g., enhanced water repellency by increasing the fabric thread density and reducing the floats .…”

Robust and multifunctional natural polyphenolic composites for water remediation

“…, pyrogallol/PEI, catechol/PEI, dopamine/diethylenetriamine, dopamine/triethylenetetramine) on the polymeric membranes to obtain the nanofiltration performance for organic dye molecules and inorganic salt. 115 The property of 2D membrane is closely related to the membrane filtration application, which will be further discussed in later section.…”

Controlled Nafion Modification of Membranes by Countercurrent Heating for Emulsion Separation

“…12,13 To break the thermodynamic equilibrium of a stable oil− water emulsion system, surface modification of membranes plays a vital role in fabricating membranes with enhanced demulsification and filtration capabilities for oily emulsion separation. 14,15 Emerging Janus membranes, 9,10,14,16−25 asymmetric wettability on two surfaces, have been proven to be advantageous for emulsion separation compared to those superwetting filters with symmetric superhydrophobicity or superhydrophilicity on two sides. 7,26−31 Their superiority benefits from the very thin functional layer.…”