Poly(vinylidene fluoride) electrospun membranes have been prepared with different NaY zeolite contents up to 32%wt. Inclusion of zeolites induces an increase of average fiber size from ~200 nm in the pure polymer up to ~500 nm in the composite with 16%wt zeolite content. For higher filler contents, a wider distribution of fibers occurs leading to a broader size distributions between the previou...

Carbon molecular sieve membranes (CMSMs) are inorganic produced by carbonization of a thermosetting polymer. The selection the adequate polymer, conditions and post-carbonization treatment allow production large variety porous structures. mass transport species through these structures is not easy to model in detail. This review reports last developments field CMSMs. membrane also briefly touch...

Lithium-based batteries with improved safety performance are highly desired. At present, most hazard is the consequence of ignition and flammability organic liquid electrolytes. Dry ceramic-polymer composite electrolytes attractive for their merits non-flammability, reduced gas release, thermal stability, in addition to mechanical strength flexibility. We recently fabricated free-standing solid...

Growth in the use of organic materials in the fabrication of electronic devices is on the rise. Recently, some attempts have been undertaken to manufacture polymer memory devices. Such devices are fabricated by depositing a blend (an admixture of organic polymer, small organic molecules and nanoparticles) between two metal electrodes. These devices show two electrical conductivity states ('high...

A novel method for flexibly implementing sample dialysis on microchips is introduced. Nanoporous polymer membranes (5-20 pm thickness) with up to 1OOO:l aspect ratio are fabricated in-situ on silica microchips via photopatterned phase-separation polymerization. These membranes enable selective diffusion of molecules smaller than a cutoff specified by the membrane pore size. Diffusion measuremen...

the process environment are needed in many emerging energy and environment technologies, ranging from membranes for gas separation (e.g., carbon capture), water purification (e.g., desalination), to clean energy production (e.g., fuel cell). In the Guo group at the University of Notre Dame, we are focused on molecularly engineering polymer and polymer-based membranes that are both structurally ...

Polymer-supported liquid-crystal membranes have been designed for neutral-carrier-type potassium ion-selective electrodes, aiming for practical applications of high-performance liquid-crystalline membrane ion sensors. Two types of polymer-supported liquid-crystal membranes were tested for their usefulness; one is microporous poly(tetra fluoroethylene) (PTFE) membranes impregnated by thermotropi...

Organic nanodisks, a new type of organic nanoparticles suitable for creating polymer-polymer nanocomposites, are produced by controlled polymerization within the hydrophobic interior of bicelles (discoidal lipid aggregates) used here as recyclable scaffolds.

To achieve efficient organic solar cells, the design of suitable donor-acceptor couples is crucially important. State-of-the-art donor polymers used in fullerene cells may not perform well when they are combined with non-fullerene acceptors, thus new donor polymers need to be developed. Here we report non-fullerene organic solar cells with efficiencies up to 10.9%, enabled by a novel donor poly...

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purifcation technology that uses a semipermeable membrane to remove ions, molecules, and larger particles for the production of drinking water. The frst RO membrane for seawater desalination, wastewater treatment and other applications were made of cellulose acetate. But, the polyamide thin-flm composite membrane that can tolerate wide pH...