Preparation of hydrophobic flat sheet membranes from PVDF-HFP copolymer for enhancing the oxygen permeance in nitrogen/oxygen gas mixture

In this study, poly(vinilydene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene)(PVDF-HFP) was used for preparation of hydrophobic membranes using non-solvent induced phase inversion(NIPS) technique. PVDF-HFP copolymer with concentrations of 10 wt% and 12 wt% was prepared to investigate the effect of polymer concentration on pore structure,morphology, hydrophobicity and performance of prepared membranes. Besides, the use of two coagulation baths with the effects of parameters such as coagulant time, polymer type and concentration, and the amount of nonsolvent were studied. The performance of prepared membranes was evaluated based on the permeability and selectivity of oxygen and nitrogen from a gas mixture of nitrogen/oxygen under operating conditions of feed flow rate(1–5 L·min-1), inlet pressure to membrane module(0.1–0.5 MPa) and temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. The results showed that the use of two coagulation baths with different compositions of distillated water and isopropanol,coagulant time, polymer type and concentration, and the amount of non-solvent additive have the most effect on pore structure, morphology, thickness, roughness and crystallinity of fabricated membranes. Porosity ranges for the three fabricated membranes were determined, where the maximum porosity was 73.889% and the minimum value was 56.837%. Also, the maximum and minimum average thicknesses of membrane were 320.85 μm and115 μm. Besides, the values of 4.7504 × 10-7 mol· m-2· s-1· Pa-1, 0.525 and 902.126 nm were achieved for maximum oxygen permeance, O2/N2 selectivity and roughness, respectively.

High-permeance crosslinked PTMSP thin-film composite membranes as supports for CO_2 selective layer formation

In the development of the composite gas separation membranes for post-combustion CO_2 capture, little attention is focused on the optimization of the membrane supports, which satisfy the conditions of this technology. The primary requirements to the membrane supports are concerned with their high CO_2 permeance. In this work, the membrane supports with desired characteristics were developed as high-permeance gas separation thin film composite(TFC) membranes with the thin defect-free layer from the crosslinked highly permeable polymer, poly[1-(trimethylsilyl)-1-propyne](PTMSP). This layer is insoluble in chloroform and can be used as a gutter layer for the further deposition of the CO_2-selective materials from the organic solvents. Crosslinking of PTMSP was performed using polyethyleneimine(PEI) and poly(ethyleneglycol) diglycidyl ether(PEGDGE) as crosslinking agents. Optimal concentrations of PEI in PTMSP and PEGDGE in methanol were selected in order to diminish the undesirable effect on the final membrane gas transport characteristics. The conditions of the kiss-coating technique for the deposition of the thin defect-free PTMSP-based layer, namely, composition of the casting solution and the speed of movement of the porous commercial microfiltration-grade support, were optimized. The procedure of post-treatment with alcohols and alcohol solutions was shown to be crucial for the improvement of gas permeance of the membranes with the crosslinked PTMSP layer having thickness ranging within 1-2.5 μm. The claimed membranes showed the following characteristics: CO_2 permeance is equal to 50—54 m^3(STP)/(m^2 h bar)(18,500—20,000 GPU), ideal CO_2/N_2 selectivity is 3.6-3.7, and their selective layers are insoluble in chloroform. Thus, the developed highpermeance TFC membranes are considered as a promising supports for further modification by enhanced CO_2 selective layer formation.

Gradient nanoporous phenolics as substrates for high-flux nanofiltration membranes by layer-by-layer assembly of polyelectrolytes

Thin film composite(TFC) membranes represent a highly promising platform for efficient nanofiltration(NF)processes. However, the improvement in permeance is impeded by the substrates with low permeances. Herein,highly permeable gradient phenolic membranes with tight selectivity are used as substrates to prepare TFC membranes with high permeances by the layer-by-layer assembly method. The negatively charged phenolic substrates are alternately assembled with polycation polyethylenimine(PEI) and polyanion poly(acrylic acid)(PAA)as a result of electrostatic interactions, forming thin and compact PEI/PAA layers tightly attached to the substrate surface. Benefiting from the high permeances and tight surface pores of the gradient nanoporous structures of the substrates, the produced PEI/PAA membranes exhibit a permeance up to 506 L? m-2?h-1?MPa-1, which is ~2–10 times higher than that of other membranes with similar rejections. The PEI/PAA membranes are capable of retaining N 96.1% of negatively charged dyes following the mechanism of electrostatic repulsion. We demonstrate that the membranes can also separate positively and neutrally charged dyes from water via other mechanisms.This work opens a new avenue for the design and preparation of high-flux NF membranes, which is also applicable to enhance the permeance of other TFC membranes.

Synthesis of ZSM-5 zeolite membranes without organic templates using a varying-concentration technique

Template-free nanosized ZSM-5 seeds with an average size of 15 nm were prepared from a synthesis solution with the composition 12Na2O∶100SiO2∶2Al2O3∶2500H2O. By the use of these seeds, thin ZSM-5 zeolite membranes were prepared on the outer surface of a porous α-alumina tube with a pore size of 2 μm in a gel system by varying-concentration synthesis with organic-free template. The first composition synthesis sol-gel was the same as seeds of molar composition and the second one was 12Na2O∶100SiO2∶2Al2O3∶5000H2O at 180 ℃ for 10 h, respectively. XRD shows that the film consists of well-crystallized ZSM-5 zeolite. SEM investigation indicats that the zeolite films on the supports are defect free and the film thickness is approximately 8 μm. The permeances for H2, N2, CH4 and CO2 are 8.94×10-7, 3.27×10-7, 3.9×10-7, 3.14×10-7 and 0.874×10-7 mol·m2·s-1·Pa-1, respectively. The ideal selectivity of membrane at room temperature for H2/CO2, H2/N2, H2/CH4 are 2.84, 2.73 and 2.29, respectively.

Enhanced gas separation performance of mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes containing post-functionalized S-MIL-53

Mixed matrix hollow fiber membranes（MMHFMs）filled with metal-organic frameworks（MOFs）have great potential for energy-efficient gas separation processes,but the major hurdle is polymer/MOFs interfacial defects and membrane plasticization.Herein,lab-synthesized MIL-53 was post-functionalized by aminosilane grafting and subsequently incorporated into Ultem-1000 polymer matrix to fabricate high performance MMHFMs.SEM,DLS,XRD and TGA were performed to characterize silane-modified MIL-53（S-MIL-53）and prepared MMHFMs.Moreover,the effect of MOFs loading was systematically investigated first;then gas separation performance of MMHFMs for pure and mixed gas was evaluated under different pressures.MMHFMs containing post-functionalized S-MIL-53 achieved remarkable gas permeation properties which was better than model predictions.Compared to pure HFMs,CO2permeance of MMHFM loaded with 15%S-MIL-53 increased by 157%accompanying with 40%increase for CO2/N2selectivity,which outperformed the MMHFM filled with naked MIL-53.The pure and mixed gas permeation measurements with elevated feed pressure indicated that incorporation of S-MIL-53 also increased the resistance against CO2plasticization.This work reveals that post-modified MOFs embedded in MMHFMs facilitate the improvement of gas separation performance and suppression of membrane plasticization.

Detection of rotor position by harmonic back EMF of hybrid step motor

The magnhc network model of a hybrid step motor is established by the air gap rate permeance method,and the expression of harmonic back EMF is deduced, and from the analysis above, a vovel use of harmonic backEMF sed to extract rotor peition is proposed and a new position sensor integral with the motoris designed .Experi-ments verified the correctness of the theorecal analysis. Ths type of rotor position sensor lays a foundation for closed-loop conrol of step motor.

Minimising non-selective defects in ultrathin reduced graphene oxide membranes with graphene quantum dots for enhanced water and NaCl separation

Reduced graphene oxide(rGO)membranes have been intensively evaluated for desalination and ionic sieving applications,benefiting from their stable and well-confined interlayer channels.However,rGO membranes generally suffer from low permeability due to the high transport resistance resulting from the narrowed two-dimensional(2D)channels.Although high permeability can be realized by reducing membrane thickness,membrane selectivity normally declines because of the formation of nonselective defects,in particular pinholes.In this study,we demonstrate that the non-selective defects in ultrathin rGO membranes can be effectively minimised by a facile posttreatment via surfacedeposition of graphene quantum dots(GQDs).The resultant GQDs/rGO membranes obtained a good trade-off between water permeance(14 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1).MPa^(-1))and NaCl rejection(91%).This work provides new insights into the design of high quality ultrathin 2D laminar membranes for desalination,molecular/ionic sieving and other separation applications.

Electroconductive RGO-MXene membranes with wettabilityregulated channels: improved water permeability and electro-enhanced rejection performance

Reduced graphene oxide(RGO)membranes are theoretically more conducive to the rapid transport of water molecules in their channels compared with graphene oxide(GO)membranes,as they have fewer oxygen-containing functional groups and more non-oxidized regions.However,the weak hydrophilicity of RGO membranes inhibits water entry into their channels,resulting in their low water permeability.In this work,we constructed wettable RGO-MXene channels by intercalating hydrophilic MXene nanosheets into the RGO membrane for improving the water permeance.The RGO-MXene composite membrane exhibits high pure water permeance of 62.1 L/(m^(2)·h·bar),approximately 16.8 times that of the RGO membrane(3.7 L/(m^(2)·h·bar)).Wettability test results and molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the improved water permeance results from the enhanced wettability of RGO-MXene membrane and increased rate of water molecules entering the RGOMXene channels.Benefiting from good conductivity,the RGO-MXene membrane with electroassistance exhibits significantly increased rejection rates for negatively charged dyes(from 56.0%at 0 V to 91.4%at 2.0 V for Orange G)without decreasing the permeate flux,which could be attributed to enhanced electrostatic repulsion under electro-assistance.

Reduced graphene oxide/metal oxide nanoparticles composite membranes for highly efficient molecular separation

Graphene oxide（GO） membranes play an important role in various nanofiltration applications including desalination, water purification, gas separation, and pervaporation. However, it is still very challenging to achieve both high separation efficiency and good water permeance at the same time. Here, we synthesized two kinds of GO-based composite membranes i.e. reduced GO（rGO）@MoO2 and rGO@WO3 by in-situ growth of metal nanoparticles on the surface of GO sheets. They show a high separation efficiency of ～100% for various organic dyes such as rhodamine B, methylene blue and evans blue, along with a water permeance over 125 Lm（-2） h（-1） bar（-1）. The high water permeance and rejection efficiency open up the possibility for the real applications of our GO composite membranes in water purification and wastewater treatment. Furthermore, this composite strategy can be readily extended to the fabrication of other ultrathin molecular sieving membranes for a wide range of molecular separation applications.

Magnetic Field Analytical Model for Magnetic Harmonic Gears Using the Fractional Linear Transformation Method

Magnetic harmonic gears with high gear ratios exhibit high torque densities.However,the revolution and rotation of the eccentric rotor makes the magnetic field analysis complex.In this study,an analytical model of magnetic fields for magnetic harmonic gears is developed by using the fractional linear transformation method.The transformation formula is accurate in theory and suitable for the analysis of magnetic fields with large eccentricity.The rotor eccentricity region in the z-plane is mapped onto a uniform region in the w-plane.The magnetic field solutions are obtained by modulating the magnetic field distributions without rotor eccentricity with the relative permeance function derived from the effect of rotor eccentricity.The torque of magnetic harmonic gears is calculated from the radial and tangential components of the air-gap magnetic fields.Results of the finite element method and prototype test confirm the validity of the analytical prediction.