Isoporous Micro/Nanoengineered Membranes

Abstract

Isoporous membranes are versatile structures with numerous potential and realized applications in various fields of science such as micro/nanofiltration, cell separation and harvesting, controlled drug delivery, optics, gas separation, and chromatography. Recent advances in micro/nanofabrication techniques and material synthesis provide novel methods toward controlling the detailed microstructure of membrane materials, allowing fabrication of membranes with well-defined pore size and shape. This review summarizes the current state-of-the-art for isoporous membrane fabrication using different techniques, including microfabrication, anodization, and advanced material synthesis. Various applications of isoporous membranes, such as protein filtration, pathogen isolation, cell harvesting, biosensing, and drug delivery, are also presented.

Magnéli Ti 4 O 7 modified ceramic membrane for electrically-assisted filtration with antifouling property

“…Membrane filtration is a promising water treatment technology because it avoids the utilization of additional chemicals, consumes relatively low energy and is straightforward for handling [1][2][3]. However, the most serious obstacle to the widespread application of membrane separation technology is membrane fouling, which significantly reduces permeate flux and shortens membrane service life [4][5][6].…”

Effect of geometrical dimension, shape, thickness, material & applied pressure on nanopore thin filtration membrane strength

“…Maximum deflection and tensile stress at the center of a filtration membrane with no pores on it is first simulated and compared with theoretical result using Equation (4), (6) and (8). Material comparison is also conducted to examine the mechanical strength of each materials.…”

“…Therefore, a miniaturized dialysis machine that is wearable or implantable is anticipated; which patient could have uninterrupted treatment without having to sacrifice their time and mobility laying down on bed for treatment in health facilities [5]. Various types of filtration membrane has been studied by researchers around the globe to realize a miniaturized device that utilizes small-sized filtration membrane [6,7], where some of the membrane types have an ununiformed pores [8] that cause leak out of essential solutes from the body due to lack of performance in molecule size selectivity. The effect of the artificial filtration membrane geometry, shape, thickness, material and applied pressure in terms of its strength need to be taken into account so that it can withstand the continuous pressure applied caused by blood flow during filtration process.…”

Three-dimensional hydraulic modeling of particle deposition on the patterned isopore membrane in crossflow microfiltration

“…Although there had been attempts using track-etched isopore membranes with relatively uniform pore sizes, their applications were still limited due to their defects such as doublet and triplet pores and insignificant anti-fouling property [13][14][15][16]. Recently, studies to reduce pore defects have been carried out by applying self-assembly, anodization, and microelectochemical system (MEMS) to isopore membrane fabrication processes [17,18]. The increased selectivity by ordered pore structure enabled enhanced separation of specific microorganism [19,20].…”