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US 2016/0236153 A1Published application
Thin film composite forward osmosis membranes with performance enhancing layers
AssigneesInternational Business Machines Corporation, San Jose State University Research Foundation
InventorsGeraud J. Dubois, Robert D. Miller, Young-Hye Na, Victoria Piunova, Joseph Sly, Daniel Stillman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane includes a porous support with surfaces having thereon a hydrophilic self-assembled monolayer. An active layer on the support is sufficiently dense to remove an ionic species from a liquid.
Claims19
A thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane, comprising:
- a porous support, wherein the pores in the support comprise surfaces having thereon a hydrophilic self-assembled monolayer;
- and
- an active layer on the support, wherein the active layer is sufficiently dense to remove an ionic species from a liquid.
A process of modifying a TFC FO membrane with hydrophilic-functionalized star polymers, comprising:
- exposing a porous support to an aqueous solution of hydrophilic-functionalized star polymers;
- and
- draining the excess star polymer solution.
A thin film composite (TFC) membrane, comprising:
- a porous support, wherein at least some of the pores in the support comprise surfaces having thereon a hydrophilic layer comprising functionalized star polymer;
- and
- an active layer on the support, wherein the active layer comprises a layer of a polyamide, a plurality of layers of a star polymer, and combinations thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.