PFI:AIR - TT: Large Area Fabrication of Next Generation Nanofiltration Membranes With Aligned and Stimuli Responsive Nanopores

该PFI：空气技术转化项目侧重于转化聚合物定向自组装方面的最新进展，以满足提高超滤(UF)和纳滤膜(NF)性能的需求。超滤膜和纳滤膜在各种商业应用中都有应用。例如，超滤广泛用于食品和生物加工，用于奶酪加工中的过滤，以及牛奶中的病原体去除。纳滤膜用于去除有机污染物，用于净化工业废水，例如纺织和造纸。纳滤水也被用于家庭的使用点净水，以软化水。在微电子工业的高质量水的制备中，超滤和纳滤也被用于去除颗粒材料。改进后的超滤膜和纳滤膜有望对上述应用产生积极影响。该项目专注于微电子行业的过滤，将导致开发可扩展的制造方法、原型膜，并为这一应用提供关键的膜性能数据。与现有的纳滤膜相比，本项目所针对的新型自组装纳滤膜的特点是孔径分布更窄，弯曲度更小。与现有的纳滤膜相比，它们有望提供更高的选择性，从而提高微电子过滤等关键应用中的分离效率。该项目解决了从研究发现转化为商业应用所必须克服的可扩展制造技术差距。我们将采取两种截然不同的方法。第一个中心是使用物理限制来垂直排列由交联型自组装小分子衍生的膜中的纳米孔。第二种是基于使用磁场，特别是低强度磁场来垂直排列自组装聚合物纳米结构。这些纳米结构随后被蚀刻，所产生的孔被用于过滤。在这两种情况下，一个至关重要的方面是需要开发加工方法，使其能够在适当的微孔薄膜上进行制造，以用于膜的机械支撑。该项目聘请Pall Corporation作为行业合作伙伴，提供与应用程序相关的测试数据，并就整体翻译工作中的商业机会提供反馈。参与该项目的研究生将通过与行业合作伙伴的合作以及与大学技术转移办公室一起参与职业发展活动，获得技术转化和创业经验。

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating recent advances in directed self-assembly of polymers to fill the need for improved performance ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes. UF and NF membranes are used in a variety of commercial applications. UF is widely employed in food and bioprocessing, for filtration in cheese processing, and pathogen removal from milk, for example. NF membranes are deployed in the removal of organic contaminants for purification of industrially produced wastewaters, for example in textile and paper-making. NF is also employed in point-of-use water purification in households for water softening. Both UF and NF are also employed for the removal of particulate materials in the preparation of high quality water in the microelectronics industry. Improved UF and NF membranes are expected to have positive impacts on the aforementioned applications. This project is focused specifically on filtration for the microelectronics industry and will result in the development of scalable manufacturing methods, prototype membranes, and the provision of critical membrane performance data for this application. The new self-assembled NF and UF membranes targeted in this project will feature a narrower distribution of pore sizes and reduced tortuosity relative to current state of the art NF membranes. They are expected to provide greater selectivity, and therefore improved separation efficiency in critical applications such as microelectronics filtration, relative to the existing state of the art NF membranes. This project addresses the scalable fabrication technology gap that must be overcome to translate from research discovery toward commercial application. Two distinct approaches will be pursued. The first is centered on the use of physical confinement to vertically align nanopores in membranes derived by crosslinking self-assembled small molecules. The second is based on the use of magnetic fields, and in particular, low intensity magnetic fields, to vertically align self-assembled polymer nanostructures. These nanostructures are thereafter etched and the resulting pores are used for filtration. In both cases, a critically important aspect is the need to develop processing methods that enable fabrication on appropriate microporous films for mechanical support of the membranes. The project engages Pall Corporation as an industrial partner to provide application-relevant test data and feedback on commercial opportunities in the overall translation effort. Graduate students involved with this project will receive technology translation and entrepreneurship experiences through collaboration with the industrial partner and participation in career development activities with university technology transfer offices.