I-Corps: High Performance Lithographically Defined Filters

地球仪的消费者越来越意识到水污染的风险，无论是独立式还是管道式。因此，消费者对更接近使用点的水处理系统的需求不断增长。这种对使用点水过滤的推动正在产生对小型，经济并且能够以相当低的体积支持实时需求的系统的日益增长的需求。小规模的使用点系统如今被销售给背包客/徒步旅行者、应急响应人员和人道主义工作者，并且作为台面过滤单元销售给普通公众。过滤器性能的提高以及由此导致的尺寸和成本的降低对于这些市场中的许多市场来说将是显著的。也许更重要的是抗堵塞（过滤器结垢）或自清洁使用点系统，这将显着降低使用的维护障碍。为了提高水过滤的流量和过滤器寿命，该团队提出了一种用于预过滤器的精密制造膜。拟议的碳纳米管模板微制造（CNT-M）膜将具有比市售膜过滤器更高的孔密度和更高的自清洁性能，从而降低系统尺寸和成本，并减少维护要求。CNT-M工艺产生具有平坦顶表面和垂直均匀孔分布的膜。 这些孔有利于高流速，并应具有显著提高的过滤效率。碳纳米管模板化微制造（CNT-M）工艺的工业实施将为其在其他有前景的应用领域的实施铺平道路，包括：高性能惯性微传感器，X射线束技术，医疗微型设备和色谱分离介质。

Consumers around the globe are becoming more aware of the risks of contamination in water, whether it be freestanding or plumbed. As a result, there is growing consumer demand for systems to treat water nearer the point-of-use. This push for point-of-use water filtration is yielding a growing demand for systems that are small, economical, and capable of supporting real-time demand at fairly low volumes. Small scale point of use systems are marketed today to backpackers/hikers, emergency response personnel, and humanitarian workers, and to the general public as countertop filtration units. Increased filter performance and the resultant reductions in size and cost would be significant for many of these markets. Perhaps even more significant would be resistance to clogging (filter fouling) or self-cleaning point-of-use systems which would significantly lower the maintenance barrier to use. To improve on flow and filter lifetime in water filtration, the team proposes a precision fabricated membrane for backwash pre-filters.The proposed carbon nanotube template microfabricated (CNT-M) membranes will have a much higher pore density and increased self-cleaning performance than commercially available membrane filters allowing for reduced system size and cost and reduced maintenance requirements. The CNT-M process results in a membrane with a planar top surface and vertical uniform pore profiles. These pores facilitate high flow rates and should have significantly improved backwash efficiency. Industrial implementation of the carbon nanotube templated microfabrication (CNT-M) process will pave the way for its implementation in other promising applications areas including: high performance inertial microsensors, x-ray beam technology, medical microdevices, and chromatographic separations media.