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Polymers
Special Issues
Gas Separation through Polymer-Based Membranes: Synthesis, Membrane Fabrication, and Performance
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Gas Separation through Polymer-Based Membranes: Synthesis, Membrane Fabrication, and Performance

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 7672

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Toshiki Aoki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Ikarashi 2-8050, Nishi-Ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
Interests: functional polymer; permselective membranes; polymer chemistry; polymerization; asymmetric polymerization; optical resolution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers are very suitable as membrane materials because they can be easily fabricated to flexible and very thin membranes. In particular, separation membranes for the mixture of small gas molecules such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen are very important from the scientific and practical standpoints. In fact, many researches on gas separation by organic polymers have been reported. However, their permselectivities were relatively low, although they have been improved day by day. In addition, it is not enough to clear up the relationship between the molecular structures and their performances. Therefore, in order to develop better polymer membranes having better performances, more information of the relationship for well-defined polymer membranes is necessary.

This Special Issue invites original research about precise synthesis of new polymers for membranes, modification of separation membranes by polymer reactions including carbonization, new membrane fabrication methods, and good performance of membrane separations. Both original articles including letters and reviews are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Toshiki Aoki
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • gas separation
  • oxygen separation
  • carbon dioxide separation
  • hydrogen separation
  • polymer membranes
  • carbonized membranes
  • synthesis
  • polymer reaction
  • membrane fabrication
  • separation performance
  • separation mechanism
  • network polymers
  • hyperbranched polymers
  • two dimentional polymers

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

39 pages, 9797 KiB  
Review
Macromolecular Design for Oxygen/Nitrogen Permselective Membranes—Top-Performing Polymers in 2020—
by Jianjun Wang, Zhichun Shi, Yu Zang, Hongge Jia, Masahiro Teraguchi, Takashi Kaneko and Toshiki Aoki
Polymers 2021, 13(17), 3012; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13173012 - 06 Sep 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2431
Abstract
Oxygen/nitrogen permselective membranes play particularly important roles in fundamental scientific studies and in a number of applications in industrial chemistry, but have not yet fulfilled their full potential. Organic polymers are the main materials used for such membranes because of the possibility of [...] Read more.
Oxygen/nitrogen permselective membranes play particularly important roles in fundamental scientific studies and in a number of applications in industrial chemistry, but have not yet fulfilled their full potential. Organic polymers are the main materials used for such membranes because of the possibility of using sophisticated techniques of precise molecular design and their ready processability for making thin and large self-supporting membranes. However, since the difference in the properties of oxygen and nitrogen gas molecules is quite small, for example, their kinetic diameters are 3.46 Å and 3.64 Å, respectively, the architectures of the membrane macromolecules should be designed precisely. It has been reported often that oxygen permeability (PO2) and oxygen permselectivity (α = PO2/PN2) have trade-off relationships for symmetric membranes made from pure polymers. Some empirical upper bound lines have been reported in (ln α − ln PO2) plots since Robeson reported an upper bound line in 1991 for the first time. The main purpose of this review is to discuss suitable macromolecular structures that produce excellent oxygen/nitrogen permselective membranes. For this purpose, we first searched extensively and intensively for papers which had reported α and PO2 values through symmetric dense membranes from pure polymers. Then, we examined the chemical structures of the polymers showing the top performances in (ln α − ln PO2) plots, using their aged performances. Furthermore, we also explored progress in the molecular design in this field by comparing the best polymers reported by 2013 and those subsequently found up to now (2020) because of the rapid outstanding growth in this period. Finally, we discussed how to improve α and PO2 simultaneously on the basis of reported results using not only symmetric membranes of pure organic polymers but also composite asymmetric membranes containing various additives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Separation through Polymer-Based Membranes: Synthesis, Membrane Fabrication, and Performance)
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47 pages, 2554 KiB  
Review
Advanced Research and Development of Face Masks and Respirators Pre and Post the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Critical Review
by Ebuka A. Ogbuoji, Amr M. Zaky and Isabel C. Escobar
Polymers 2021, 13(12), 1998; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13121998 - 18 Jun 2021
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 6099
Abstract
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, has accelerated the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) masks as one of the methods to reduce and/or eliminate transmission of the coronavirus across communities. Despite the availability of different coronavirus vaccines, it is still [...] Read more.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, has accelerated the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) masks as one of the methods to reduce and/or eliminate transmission of the coronavirus across communities. Despite the availability of different coronavirus vaccines, it is still recommended by the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and local authorities to apply public safety measures including maintaining social distancing and wearing face masks. This includes individuals who have been fully vaccinated. Remarkable increase in scientific studies, along with manufacturing-related research and development investigations, have been performed in an attempt to provide better PPE solutions during the pandemic. Recent literature has estimated the filtration efficiency (FE) of face masks and respirators shedding the light on specific targeted parameters that investigators can measure, detect, evaluate, and provide reliable data with consistent results. This review showed the variability in testing protocols and FE evaluation methods of different face mask materials and/or brands. In addition to the safety requirements needed to perform aerosol viral filtration tests, one of the main challenges researchers currently face is the inability to simulate or mimic true aerosol filtration scenarios via laboratory experiments, field tests, and in vitro/in vivo investigations. Moreover, the FE through the mask can be influenced by different filtration mechanisms, environmental parameters, filtration material properties, number of layers used, packing density, fiber charge density, fiber diameter, aerosol type and particle size, aerosol face velocity and concentration loadings, and infectious concentrations generated due to different human activities. These parameters are not fully understood and constrain the design, production, efficacy, and efficiency of face masks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Separation through Polymer-Based Membranes: Synthesis, Membrane Fabrication, and Performance)
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