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Polymers
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Polymeric Membranes: Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications
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Polymeric Membranes: Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Membranes and Films".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 September 2024) | Viewed by 8513

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Khalil Abdelrazek Khalil

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Interests: materials engineering; nanomaterials; nanofibers; mechanical properties
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymeric membranes are widely used in various energy, environment, and biomedicine areas, such as desalination, gas separations, water purifications, fuel cell, battery applications, tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, and diagnostics. Research on and development of new polymeric membrane materials are essential to support the growing interest in membrane science and technology.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent progress in the development of polymeric membranes, including but not limited to the fabrication, modification, characterization, processing, and applications of polymeric membranes.

Prof. Dr. Khalil Abdelrazek Khalil
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1807 KiB  
Article
Facile Coaxial Electrospinning Synthesis of Polyacrylonitrile/Cellulose Acetate Nanofiber Membrane for Oil–Water Separations
by Maha Mohammad AL-Rajabi, Ismail W. Almanassra, Abdelrahman K. A. Khalil, Muataz Ali Atieh, Tahar Laoui and Khalil Abdelrazek Khalil
Polymers 2023, 15(23), 4594; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15234594 - 30 Nov 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1820
Abstract
Oil-contaminated water and industrial oily wastewater discharges have adversely affected aquatic ecosystems and human safety. Membrane separation technology offers a promising solution for effective oil–water separation. Thus, a membrane with high surface area, hydrophilic–oleophobic properties, and stability is a promising candidate. Electrospinning, a [...] Read more.
Oil-contaminated water and industrial oily wastewater discharges have adversely affected aquatic ecosystems and human safety. Membrane separation technology offers a promising solution for effective oil–water separation. Thus, a membrane with high surface area, hydrophilic–oleophobic properties, and stability is a promising candidate. Electrospinning, a straightforward and efficient process, produces highly porous polymer-based membranes with a vast surface area and stability. The main objective of this study is to produce hydrophilic–oleophobic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers using core–shell electrospinning. Incorporating CA into the shell of the nanofibers enhances the wettability. The core PAN polymer improves the electrospinning process and contributes to the hydrophilicity–oleophobicity of the produced nanofibers. The PAN/CA nanofibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and surface-wetting behavior. The resulting PAN/cellulose nanofibers exhibited significantly improved surface-wetting properties, demonstrating super-hydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity, making them a promising choice for oil–water separation. Various oils, including gasoline, diesel, toluene, xylene, and benzene, were employed in the preparation of oil–water mixture solutions. The utilization of PAN/CA nanofibers as a substrate proved to be highly efficient, confirming exceptional separation efficiency, remarkable stability, and prolonged durability. The current work introduces an innovative single-step fabrication method of composite nanofibers, specially designed for efficient oil–water separation. This technology exhibits significant promise for deployment in challenging situations, offering excellent reusability and a remarkable separation efficiency of nearly 99.9%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Membranes: Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications)
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23 pages, 4468 KiB  
Article
Argon Plasma Jet-Treated Poly (Vinyl Alcohol)/Chitosan and PEG 400 Plus Mangifera indica Leaf Extract for Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes: In Vitro Study
by Pongphun Sukum, Winita Punyodom, Somsak Dangtip, Pipath Poramapijitwat, Donraporn Daranarong, Thannaphat Jenvoraphot, Mudtorlep Nisoa, Chakkrapong Kuensaen and Dheerawan Boonyawan
Polymers 2023, 15(11), 2559; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15112559 - 2 Jun 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3170
Abstract
The wound-healing process can be disrupted at any stage due to various internal and external factors. The inflammatory stage of the process plays a vital role in determining the outcome of the wound. Prolonged inflammation due to bacterial infection can lead to tissue [...] Read more.
The wound-healing process can be disrupted at any stage due to various internal and external factors. The inflammatory stage of the process plays a vital role in determining the outcome of the wound. Prolonged inflammation due to bacterial infection can lead to tissue damage, slow healing, and complications. Wound dressings made using materials such as poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), chitosan (CS), and poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) with Mangifera extract (ME) added can help reduce infection and inflammation, creating a conducive environment for faster healing. However, creating the electrospun membrane is challenging due to balancing various forces such as rheological behavior, conductivity, and surface tension. To improve the electrospinnability of the polymer solution, an atmospheric pressure plasma jet can induce chemistry in the solution and increase the polarity of the solvent. Thus, this research aims to investigate the effect of plasma treatment on PVA, CS, and PEG polymer solutions and fabricate ME wound dressing via electrospinning. The results indicated that increasing plasma treatment time increased the viscosity of the polymer solution, from 269 mPa∙to 331 mPa∙s after 60 min, and led to an increase in conductivity from 298 mS/cm to 330 mS/cm and an increase in nanofiber diameter from 90 ± 40 nm to 109 ± 49 nm. Incorporating 1% mangiferin extract into an electrospun nanofiber membrane has been found to increase the inhibition rates of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by 29.2% and 61.2%, respectively. Additionally, the fiber diameter decreases when compared with the electrospun nanofiber membrane without ME. Our findings demonstrate that electrospun nanofiber membrane with ME has anti-infective properties and can promote faster wound healing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Membranes: Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications)
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16 pages, 4144 KiB  
Article
Surface Engineering of Regenerated Cellulose Nanocomposite Films with High Strength, Ultraviolet Resistance, and a Hydrophobic Surface
by Ying Zhu, Tianhao Wang, Yanan Dai, Ye Wang, Yukun Ding and Liping Zhang
Polymers 2023, 15(6), 1427; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15061427 - 14 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2534
Abstract
Regenerated cellulose packaging materials can alleviate the environmental pollution and carbon emissions caused by conventional plastics and other chemicals. They require regenerated cellulose films with good barrier properties, such as strong water resistance. Herein, using an environmentally friendly solvent at room temperature, a [...] Read more.
Regenerated cellulose packaging materials can alleviate the environmental pollution and carbon emissions caused by conventional plastics and other chemicals. They require regenerated cellulose films with good barrier properties, such as strong water resistance. Herein, using an environmentally friendly solvent at room temperature, a straightforward procedure for synthesizing these regenerated cellulose (RC) films, with excellent barrier properties and doping with nano-SiO2, is presented. After the surface silanization modification, the obtained nanocomposite films exhibited a hydrophobic surface (HRC), in which the nano-SiO2 provided a high mechanical strength, whereas octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) provided hydrophobic long-chain alkanes. The contents of the nano-SiO2 and the concentrations of the OTS/n-hexane in regenerated cellulose composite films are crucial, as they define its morphological structure, tensile strength, UV-shielding ability, and the other performance of these composite films. When the nano-SiO2 content was 6%, the tensile stress of the composite film (RC6) increased by 41.2%, the maximum tensile stress was 77.22 MPa, and the strain-at-break was 14%. Meanwhile, the HRC films had more superior multifunctional integrations of tensile strength (73.91 MPa), hydrophobicity (HRC WCA = 143.8°), UV resistance (>95%), and oxygen barrier properties (5.41 × 10−11 mL·cm/m2·s·Pa) than the previously reported regenerated cellulose films in packaging materials. Moreover, the modified regenerated cellulose films could biodegrade entirely in soil. These results provide an experimental basis for preparing regenerated-cellulose-based nanocomposite films that exhibit a high performance in packaging applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymeric Membranes: Fabrication, Characterization, and Applications)
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