Synergistic Effect of Ti3C2Tx MXene Nanosheets and Tannic Acid-Fe3+ Network in Constructing High-Performance Hydrogel Composite Membrane for Photothermal Membrane Distillation.

Photothermal membrane distillation (PMD) has emerged as a promising and sustainable approach for seawater desalination and wastewater purification. However, the wide application of the technique is severely impeded by low freshwater production and membrane fouling/wetting issues. Herein, we developed an advanced hydrogel-engineered membrane with simultaneously enhanced photothermal conversion capacity and desired fouling and wetting resistance for PMD. By the synergies of photothermal Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets and the tannic acid-Fe3+ network in the hydrogel, the membrane was endowed with excellent surface self-heating ability, yielding the highest freshwater production rate (1.71 kg m-2 h-1) and photothermal efficiency among the fabricated hydrogel composite membranes under 1 sun irradiation. Meanwhile, the PMD membrane could robustly resist oil-induced fouling and surfactant-induced wetting, significantly extending the membrane lifespan in treating contaminated saline water. Furthermore, when desalinating real seawater, the membrane exhibited superior durability with a stable vapor flux and excellent ion rejection (e.g., 99.24% for boron) for 100 h.

A Hydrogel-coated Wood Membrane with Intelligent Oil Pollution Detection for Emulsion Separation.

Considering the potential threats posed by oily wastewater to the ecosystem, it is urgently in demand to develop efficient, eco-friendly, and intelligent oil/water separation materials to enhance the safety of the water environment. Herein, an intelligent hydrogel-coated wood (PPT/PPy@DW) membrane with self-healing, self-cleaning, and oil pollution detection performances is fabricated for the controllable separation of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions and water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. The PPT/PPy@DW is prepared by loading polypyrrole (PPy) particles on the delignified wood (DW) membranes, further modifying the hydrogel layer as an oil-repellent barrier. The layered porous structure and selective wettability endow PPT/PPy@DW with great separation performance for various O/W emulsions (≥98.69% for separation efficiency and ≈1000 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 for permeance). Notably, the oil pollution degree of PPT/PPy@DW can be monitored in real-time based on the changed voltage generated during O/W emulsion separation, and the oil-polluted PPT/PPy@DW can be self-cleaned by soaking in water to recover its separation performance. The high affinity of PPT/PPy@DW for water makes it effective in trapping water from the mixed surfactant-stabilized W/O emulsions. The prepared eco-friendly and low-cost multifunctional hydrogel wood membrane shows promising potential in on-demand oil/water separation and provides new ideas for the functional improvement of new biomass oil/water separation membrane materials.

Effects of protected area coverage and research on conservation status of primates globally.

Conducting conservation research and establishing protected areas (PAs) based on research results are critical to biodiversity conservation. However, the effect of research and PAs on conservation of threatened species has rarely been evaluated simultaneously. We collected data on PAs from 2000 for 2021 and determined the number of publications on global primates (published from 1950 to 2021) to assess the effect of PAs, research, and biological and socioeconomic factors on the current International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered status and change in status. We used the MCMCglmm package to conduct a phylogenetic comparative analysis to control the phylogenetic relationship of primate species. The status of 24.6% (82 of 333) of species assessed at least twice declined. Only the black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) had an improved status. Species with status declines mostly occurred on the south coast of West Africa and in Madagascar. PAs covered 22.1% of each species' range. Forest loss in PAs (5.5%) was significantly lower than forest loss within 5 km outside PAs (13.8%), suggesting PAs effectively mitigated forest loss. Both the median number of total publications and conservation publications on critically endangered species were higher than those of other categories. Models showed that PA coverage and number of publications or conservation-focused publications were not related to current status or change in status over time. A decline in status was not related to creation of PAs or increase of research since the last assessment. Our results suggest that current PAs and research are not reversing the extinction crisis of global primates. Doing more conservation-oriented research, strengthening management of current PAs, and expanding PAs will be needed to protect primates globally.

Efectos de la cobertura e investigación de áreas protegidas sobre el estado de conservación de los primates a nivel mundial Resumen La investigación para la conservación y la creación de áreas protegidas (AP) con base en sus resultados son de suma importancia para conservar la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, pocas veces se ha analizado de forma simultánea el efecto de la investigación y las AP sobre la conservación de especies amenazadas. Recolectamos datos sobre las AP entre el 2000 y el 2021 y determinamos el número de artículos sobre primates publicados entre 1950 y 2021 para evaluar el efecto de las AP, la investigación y los factores biológicos y socioeconómicos sobre el estado actual de en peligro y de cambio de estatus de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza. Usamos el paquete MCMCglmm para realizar un estudio filogenético comparativo para analizar la relación filogenética del estado de las especies y del cambio de estatus de primates. El estatus del 24.6% (82 de 333) de las especies analizadas declinó al menos dos veces. Solamente el tití leoncito (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) tuvo una mejoraría en su estado. Las especies con declinación en su estado se ubicaron principalmente en la costa sur del Oeste de África y en Madagascar. Las AP cubrieron el 22.1% de la distribución de cada especie. La pérdida de bosques en las AP (5.5%) fue mucho menor que la pérdida dentro de los primeros 5 km fuera de las AP (13.8%), lo que sugiere que las AP mitigan eficientemente la pérdida de bosque. Tanto el número medio de publicaciones totales como el de publicaciones sobre la conservación de especies en peligro crítico fue mayor que aquellos de cualquier otra categoría. Los modelos mostraron que la cobertura de AP y el número de publicaciones o de publicaciones enfocadas en la conservación no estaban relacionados con el estado actual o el cambio de estado. La declinación del estado no estuvo relacionada con la creación de AP o el incremento en la investigación desde nuestro último análisis. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la investigación y las AP actuales no están revirtiendo la crisis mundial de extinción de primates. Para proteger a los primates se necesitará realizar más investigación orientada a la conservación, fortalecer el manejo actual de las AP, así como expandirlas.

Hypercrosslinked Hydrogel Composite Membranes Targeted for Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds via Selective Solution-Diffusion in Membrane Distillation.

Membrane distillation (MD) has attracted considerable interest in hypersaline wastewater treatment. However, its practicability is severely impeded by the ineffective interception of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which seriously affects the product water quality. Herein, a hypercrosslinked alginate (Alg)/aluminum (Al) hydrogel composite membrane is facilely fabricated via Alg pregel formation and ionic crosslinking for efficient VOC interception. The obtained MD membrane shows a sufficient phenol rejection of 99.52% at the phenol concentration of 100 ppm, which is the highest rejection among the reported MD membranes. Moreover, the hydrogel composite membrane maintains a high phenol interception (>99%), regardless of the feed temperature, initial phenol concentration, and operating time. Diffusion experiments and molecular dynamics simulation verify that the selective diffusion is the dominant mechanism for VOCs-water separation. Phenol experiences a higher energy barrier to pass through the dense hydrogel layer compared to water molecules as the stronger interaction between phenol-Alg compared with water-Alg. Benefited from the dense and hydratable Alg/Al hydrogel layer, the composite membrane also exhibits robust resistance to wetting and fouling during long-term operation. The superior VOCs removal efficiency and excellent durability endow the hydrogel composite membrane with a promising application for treating complex wastewater containing both volatile and nonvolatile contaminants.

Thin-Film Composite Membranes Interlayered with Amphiphilic MoS2 Nanosheets via Controllable Interfacial Polymerization for Enhanced Desalination Performance.

Polyamide (PA)-based nanofiltration (NF) membranes have demonstrated extensive applications for a sustainable water-energy-environment nexus. A rational control of interfacial polymerization (IP) is highly efficacious to enhance NF separation performance yet remains a technical challenge. Herein, we proposed a regulation strategy of constructing amphiphilic molybdenum disulfide/cetyltrimethylammonium bromide interlayer atop the Kevlar hydrogel substrate. The amphiphilic nanosheet interlayered NF membrane exhibited a crumpled PA surface with an elevated cross-linking degree of 76.9%, leading to an excellent water permeance (16.8 L m-2 h-1 bar-1) and an impressive Na2SO4 rejection (99.1%). Meanwhile, the selectivity coefficient of Na2SO4/NaCl of the optimized TFC membrane reached 91, surpassing those of the recently reported NF membranes. Moreover, the optimized membrane exhibited a desirable rejection of over 90% against Mn2+ and Cu2+ in actual textile wastewater. Importantly, the underlying NF membrane formation mechanism was elucidated via both experiments and molecular simulations. The synchronous control of mass and heat transfer of IP process offers a new methodology for the state-of-the-art membrane fabrication, which opens more avenues in softening of brackish water and purification of industrial wastewater containing heavy metal ions.

Nanocomposite Hydrogel Engineered Janus Membrane for Membrane Distillation with Robust Fouling, Wetting, and Scaling Resistance.

Membrane distillation (MD) is considered to be rather promising for high-salinity wastewater reclamation. However, its practical viability is seriously challenged by membrane wetting, fouling, and scaling issues arising from the complex components of hypersaline wastewater. It remains extremely difficult to overcome all three challenges at the same time. Herein, a nanocomposite hydrogel engineered Janus membrane has been facilely constructed for desired wetting/fouling/scaling-free properties, where a cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) composite hydrogel layer is formed in situ atop a microporous hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrate intermediated by an adhesive layer. By the synergies of the elevated membrane liquid entry pressure, inhibited surfactant diffusion, and highly hydratable surface imparted by the hydrogel/CNC (HC) layer, the resultant HC-PTFE membrane exhibits robust resistance to surfactant-induced wetting and oil fouling during 120 h of MD operation. Meanwhile, owing to the dense and hydroxyl-abundant surface, it is capable of mitigating gypsum scaling and scaling-induced wetting, resulting in a high normalized flux and low distillate conductivity at a concentration factor of 5.2. Importantly, the HC-PTFE membrane enables direct desalination of real hypersaline wastewater containing broad-spectrum foulants with stable vapor flux and robust salt rejection (99.90%) during long-term operation, demonstrating its great potential for wastewater management in industrial scenarios.

High-Capacity Amidoxime-Functionalized ß-Cyclodextrin/Graphene Aerogel for Selective Uranium Capture.

Uranium extraction from seawater is a grand challenge of mounting severity as the energy demand increases with a growing global population. An amidoxime-functionalized carboxymethyl ß-cyclodextrin/graphene aerogel (GDC) is developed for highly efficient and selective uranium extraction via a facile one-pot hydrothermal process. GDC reaches equilibrium in 1 h, and the maximum adsorption capacity calculated from Langmuir model is 654.2 mg/g. Benefiting from the chelation and complexation reaction, the obtained GDC has an excellent selectivity even when the competitive cations, anions, and oil pollutants exist. In addition, the aerogel possesses great mechanical integrity and remains intact after 10 compression cycles. Meanwhile, the GDC can be easily regenerated and maintains a high reusability of 87.3% after 10 adsorption-desorption cycles. It is worthwhile to mention that GDC exhibits an excellent extraction capacity of 19.7 mg/g within 21 days in natural seawater, which is greatly desired in uranium extraction from seawater.

12-W continuous-wave green output from a 200-µm fiber-coupled diode laser based on TO-Can packaged emitters.

A 12-W green laser diode module with fiber-coupled output is developed. The high-power fiber-coupled output of a green diode laser is realized by using the technologies of beam collimation, spatial beam combining, beam shaping, and fiber coupling based on TO-Can packaged emitters. According to the optical fiber parameters, the detailed beam combination method is described and the maximum quantity of a single emitter in beam combination is calculated theoretically. In the experiment, as many as 16 green laser diode emitters with output power of 1 W each were combined and coupled into a fiber with core diameter of 200 µm and a numerical aperture of 0.22. A total of 12.2 W continuous-wave output at the wavelength of 520 nm was achieved with a coupling efficiency of 86.5% and an electro-optical efficiency of 10.6%.

Facile Fabrication of Cyclodextrin-Modified Magnetic Particles for Effective Demulsification from Various Types of Emulsions.

Effective oil-water phase separation from various emulsions, especially those stabilized by surfactant, is of great importance. Although superhydrophobic and superoleophilic materials have attracted considerable attention in recent years, they are incapable of directly separating all types of oil-water mixtures. To separate various types of emulsions, one of the most important features of particles is that they can be dispersed in the continuous phase for delivery and target dispersed phases. In this study, cyclodextrin-modified magnetic composite particles (M-CDs) have been fabricated for this goal, based on their special interfacial activity and response to an external magnetic field. Though M-CDs are hydrophilic, the intelligent M-CDs can switch from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity spontaneously, due to the formation of CD-oil inclusion complexes (ICs) at the oil-water interface. Physicochemical characterization reveals that M-CDs can adsorb at the oil-water interface and locate at the droplet surface as an effective Pickering emulsifier. By applying an external magnetic field, M-CDs are removed from the droplet surface and a rapid oil-water phase separation occurs. Our M-CDs can demulsify, for the first time, surfactant-free or surfactant-stabilized oil-in-water (O/W) and water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions directly, with high separation efficiency. Furthermore, the recycled MNPs still show high demulsification efficiency. In view of the sustainability of cyclodextrin and effective recycling ability of MNPs, M-CDs provides a new opportunity to develop an environmentally friendly interfacial material for practical applications in wastewater treatment.

Layer-by-layer assembly of aquaporin Z-incorporated biomimetic membranes for water purification.

We fabricated a biomimetic nanofiltration (NF) membrane by immobilizing an Aquaporin Z (AqpZ)-incorporated supported lipid bilayer (SLB) on a layer-by-layer (LbL) complex polyelectrolyte membrane to achieve excellent permeability and salt rejection with a high stability. The polyelectrolyte membranes were prepared by LbL assembly of poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) with positive charges and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) with negative charges alternately on a porous hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (H-PAN) substrate. AqpZ-incorporated 1,2-dioleloyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC)/1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammo-nium-propane (chloride salt) (DOTAP) vesicles with positive charges were deposited on the H-PAN/PEI/PSS polyelectrolytes membrane surface. The resulting biomimetic membrane exhibited a high flux of 22 L·m(-2)·h(-1) (LMH), excellent MgCl2 rejection of ∼97% and NaCl rejection of ∼75% under an operation pressure of 0.4 MPa. Due to the attractive electrostatic interaction between SLB and the polyelectrolyte membrane, the biomimetic membrane showed satisfactory stability and durability as well as stable NF flux and rejection for at least 36 h. In addition, the AqpZ-containing biomimetic membrane was immersed in a 0.24 mM (critical micellar concentration, CMC) Triton X-100 solution for 5 min. The flux and rejection were slightly influenced by the Triton X-100 treatment. The current investigation demonstrated that the AqpZ-incorporated biomimetic membranes fabricated by the LbL method led to excellent separation performances and robust structures that withstand a high operation pressure for a relatively long time.

Impact of monoolein on aquaporin1-based supported lipid bilayer membranes.

Aquaporin (AQP) based biomimetic membranes have attracted considerable attention for their potential water purification applications. In this paper, AQP1 incorporated biomimetic membranes were prepared and characterized. The morphology and structure of the biomimetic membranes were characterized by in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM), infrared absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and contact angle measurements. The nanofiltration performance of the AQP1 incorporated membranes was investigated at 4 bar by using 2 g l-1 NaCl as feed solution. Lipid mobility plays an important role in the performance of the AQP1 incorporated supported lipid bilayer (SLB) membranes. We demonstrated that the lipid mobility is successfully tuned by the addition of monoolein (MO). Through in situ AFM and fluorescence recovery after photo-bleaching (FRAP) measurements, the membrane morphology and the molecular mobility were studied. The lipid mobility increased in the sequence DPPC < DPPC/MO (RMO = 5/5) < DOPC/MO (RMO = 5/5) < DOPC, which is consistent with the flux increment and salt rejection. This study may provide some useful insights for improving the water purification performance of biomimetic membranes.

Insights into the pH-dependent interactions of sulfadiazine antibiotic with soil particle models.

Sulfonamide antibiotics (SAs) are widely used as a broad-spectrum antibiotic, leading to global concerns due to their potential soil accumulation and subsequent effects on ecosystems. SAs often exhibit remarkable environmental persistence, necessitating further investigation to uncover the ultimate destiny of these molecules. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations combined with complementary quantum chemistry calculations were employed to investigate the influence of pH on the behavior of sulfadiazine (SDZ, a typical SAs) in soil particle models (silica, one of the main components of soil). Meanwhile, the quantification of SDZ molecules aggregation potential onto silica was further extended. SDZ molecules tend to form a monolayer on the soil surface under acidic conditions while forming aggregated adsorption on the surface under neutral conditions. Due to the hydrophilicity of the silica, multiple hydration layers would form on its surface, hindering the further adsorption of SDZ molecules on its surface. The calculated soil-water partition coefficient (Psoil/water) of SDZ+ and SDZ were 9.01 and 7.02, respectively. The adsorption evaluation and mechanisms are useful in controlling the migration and transformation of SAs in the soil environment. These findings provide valuable insights into the interactions between SDZ and soil components, shedding light on its fate and transport in the environment.

Insights into the silica scaling behaviors in membrane distillation and anti-scaling mechanism of functional polymers.

Silica scaling imposes a significant limitation on the efficacy of membrane distillation (MD) in the treatment of hypersaline wastewater. The complex dynamic behaviors of silica at the membrane-water-air interface and the poor understanding of molecular-level anti-scaling mechanism hampers the development of effective antiscalants for mitigating silica scaling in MD. Despite using functional polymers to prevent silica polymerization, the inhibition mechanisms are unclear. Here, the kinetic process of silica scaling during MD and the potential anti-scaling mechanism of poly-ethylenimine (PEI) were investigated at the molecular level via molecular dynamics simulations. The investigation reveals that silica scales were more likely to adhere to the water-PTFE interface with a free energy potential well of -40.0 kJ mol-1 than that of the water-air interface with a -11.4 kJ mol-1 potential well. Silica scales falling at the water-air interface also migrated on the water-air interface until captured by the PTFE membrane. In this work, a representative functional amino-rich polymer PEI was constructed as silica inhibitors and its scale inhibition mechanism was elucidated. Notably, the inclusion of PEI increased the free-energy barriers for the silica polymerization reaction from 72.0 kJ mol-1 to 86.1 kJ mol-1, compared to scenarios without the antiscalants. Moreover, quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) model of ΔGwater-silica was developed to predict the anti-scaling efficiencies of typical antiscalants based on machine learning method. These findings provide valuable insights into enhancing the efficiency of silica scaling mitigation strategies.

Molecular insights into the adsorption and penetration of oil droplets on hydrophobic membrane in membrane distillation.

Membrane fouling induced by oily substances significantly constrains membrane distillation performance in treating hypersaline oily wastewater. Overcoming this challenge necessitates a heightened fundamental understanding of the oil fouling phenomenon. Herein, the adsorption and penetration mechanism of oil droplets on hydrophobic membranes in membrane distillation process was investigated at the molecular level. Our results demonstrated that the adsorption and penetration of oil droplets were divided into four stages, including the free stage, contact stage, spreading stage, and equilibrium stage. Due to the extensive non-polar surface distribution of the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane (comprising 95.41 %), the interaction between oil molecules and PTFE was primarily governed by van der Waals interaction. Continuous oil droplet membrane fouling model revealed that the new oil droplet molecules preferred to penetrate into membrane pores where oil droplets already existed. The penetration of resin (a component of medium-quality oil droplets) onto PTFE membrane pores required the "pre-paving" of light crude oil. Finally, the ΔE quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) models were developed to evaluate the penetration mechanism of pollutant molecules on the PTFE membrane. This research provides new insights for improving sustainable membrane distillation technologies in treating saline oily wastewater.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Supramolecular Polymers within Nanoconfinements for Enhanced Oil Recovery.

Supramolecular polymers offer promising potential for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) advancing techniques. Current instrumental analyses face limitations in capturing instantaneous intracomplex motions due to temporal and spatial constraints. The molecular mechanism of supramolecular polymer transport behavior within nanoconfinement is not yet fully understood. Therefore, the self-assembly mechanism of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) and adamantane (ADA)-modified supramolecular polymers (p-AA-ß-CD-ADA) was delved into in this work. Further exploration focuses on the translocation dynamics of p-AA-ß-CD-ADA within nanoconfinement under external driving forces. Results suggest that ß-CD and ADA in p-AA-ß-CD-ADA were assembled into nodes in the form of a host and a guest, combining with a "node-rebar-cement" interaction model encapsulating the formation mechanism of these supramolecular polymers. The heightened density of the hydrate layers at the nanoscale pore throats acts as a constraining factor, resulting in restricted mobility and altered dynamics of the supramolecular polymers. During passage through nanopore throats, host-guest molecules within the supramolecular polymer experience noncovalent dissociation. Notably, these supramolecular polymers exhibit remarkable self-healing capabilities, reinstating their assembly state upon traversing pore throats. This work provides a molecular-level comprehension of the potential utility of supramolecular polymers in EOR processes, offering valuable information for the molecular design of polymers employed for EOR in low-permeability reservoirs.

Impact of nanoplastics on membrane scaling and fouling in reverse osmosis desalination process.

Nanoplastics (NPs) are a prevalent type of emerging pollutant in marine environment. However, their fouling behavior and impact on reverse osmosis (RO) membrane performance remain unexplored. We investigated the relationship between polystyrene (PS), one of the most abundant NPs, with silica scaling and humic acid (HA) fouling in RO. The results demonstrated that the surface potential of NPs played an important role in the combined scaling and fouling process. Compared with the negatively charged NPs (original PS and carboxyl group modified PS, PS-COOH), the amino-functionalized PS (PS-NH2) with positive surface charge significantly accelerated membrane scaling/fouling and induced a synergistic water flux decline, due to the strong electrostatic attraction between PS-NH2, foulants, and the membrane surface. The amino groups acted as binding sites, which promoted the heterogeneous nucleation of silica and adsorption of HA, then formed stable composite pollutants. Thermodynamic analysis via isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) further confirmed the spontaneous formation of stable complexes between PS-NH2 and silicates/HA. Our study provides new insights into the combined NPs fouling with other scalants or foulants, and offers guidance for the accurate prediction of RO performance in the presence of NPs.

Does competitive action intensity influence team performance via leader bottom-line mentality? A social information processing perspective.

Leader bottom-line mentality (LBLM) exists when leaders solely focus on securing bottom-line outcomes to the exclusion of alternative considerations. Our research examines why leaders adopt LBLMs and the implications of this focused leadership strategy on team sales performance and pro-environmental behavior. Utilizing social information processing theory, we examine LBLM as a mediator and contend that competitive action intensity in the work environment provokes LBLM, which then signals to teams the importance of raising sales performance and reducing pro-environmental behavior. We also suggest that leader performance reward expectancy (i.e., perceptions that rewards are directly tied to high performance) serves as a first-stage moderator and team performance reward expectancy serves as a second-stage moderator, with higher (vs. lower) levels of each strengthening the indirect effects of competitive action intensity, through LBLM, onto team sales performance and pro-environmental behavior. Utilizing field data from a large pharmaceutical company (Study 1) as well as an experimental causal chain design (Studies 2a and 2b), we found support for our theoretical model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Joule Heating-Assisted Crude Oil Purification by a Poly(pyrrole)-Modified Microfibril Cellulose Membrane.

Using membrane materials to purify viscous watery oil from industrial production processes and accidental oil spills is of great importance but still challenging. Based on the excellent electrical conductivity and electric-thermal conversion of poly(pyrrole) (PPy), a hydrophobic PPy-modified micro-fibrillated cellulose membrane (P-CP) was successfully prepared. The size of the P-CP membrane can be customized to meet specific requirements. In this research, the membrane diameter is capable of reaching 24 cm. By applying a voltage ranging from 0 to 12 V, the surface temperature of the P-CP membrane can be elevated to roughly 120 °C. After 10 cycles of heating and cooling under 12 V voltage, the electric-thermal curves, surface hydrophobicity, and pore structure of P-CP membrane can remain stable, which suggests remarkable electric-thermal stability and reliability despite prolonged operation. The P-CP membrane shows good linearity between voltage and current (R2 = 0.997) and easy temperature control from room temperature to ∼120 °C at low supply voltage (0-12 V). Under the condition of 12 V power supply and self-gravity, the separation flux of the P-CP membrane for water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions (kerosene, diesel) is 2-3 times higher than that at room temperature, and the separation efficiency is also improved. Importantly, the P-CP membrane shows excellent separation performance for high viscosity water-in-crude oil emulsions, with a separation flux of 40 L m-2 h-1 by gravity. Compared to the situation without electricity, the separation flux of water-in-crude oil emulsion has increased four-fold. The joule heating of the P-CP membrane expands its service time and application scenarios, demonstrating its great application prospects in actual viscous oil-water emulsion separation.

A comprehensive evaluation of the temporal and spatial fouling characteristics of RO membranes in a full-scale seawater desalination plant.

The fouling of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membranes remains a persistent challenge in desalination. Previous research has focused mainly on fouling separately; however, organic, inorganic, and biofouling can coexist and influence each other. Hence, in-depth study of the spatiotemporal changes in actual combined fouling in full-scale seawater desalination will provide more effective information for fouling investigation and control. In this study, we monitored (i) the operational performance of a full-scale desalination plant for 7 years and (ii) the development and characterization of membrane and spacer fouling at different locations of spiral-wound membrane modules sampled after 2.5-, 3.5-, and 7-year operation. The findings showed that (i) operational performance indicators declined with time (normalized flux 40 % reduction, salt rejection 2 % in 7 years), with a limited effect of the 20-day cleaning frequency, (ii) fouling accumulation in the membrane module mainly occurred at the feed side of the lead module and the microbial community in these area exhibited the highest diversity, (iii) the dominant microbial OTUs belonged mainly to Proteobacteria (43-70 %), followed by Bacteroidetes (10-11 %), (iv) Phylogenetic molecular ecological networks and Spearman correlation analysis revealed that Chloroflexi (Anaerolineae) and Planctomycetes were keystone species in maintaining the community structure and biofilm maturation and significantly impacted the foulant content on the SWRO membrane, even with low abundance, and that (v) fouling accumulation was composed of polysaccharides, soluble microbial products, marine humic acid-like substances, and inorganic Ca/Fe/Mg/Si dominate the fouling layer of both the membrane and spacer. Overall, variation partitioning analysis quantitatively describes the increasing contribution of biofouling over time. Ultimately, the organic‒inorganic-biofouling interaction (70 %) significantly contributed to the overall fouling of the membrane after 7 years of operation. These results can be used to develop more targeted fouling control strategies to optimize SWRO desalination plant design and operation.

Machine learning for layer-by-layer nanofiltration membrane performance prediction and polymer candidate exploration.

In this study, machine learning-based models were established for layer-by-layer (LBL) nanofiltration (NF) membrane performance prediction and polymer candidate exploration. Four different models, i.e., linear, random forest (RF), boosted tree (BT), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), were formed, and membrane performance prediction was determined in terms of membrane permeability and selectivity. The XGBoost exhibited optimal prediction accuracy for membrane permeability (coefficient of determination (R2): 0.99) and membrane selectivity (R2: 0.80). The Shapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) method was utilized to evaluate the effects of different LBL NF membrane fabrication conditions on membrane performances. The SHAP method was also used to identify the relationships between polymer structure and membrane performance. Polymers were represented by Morgan fingerprint, which is an effective description approach for developing modeling. Based on the SHAP value results, two reference Morgan fingerprints were constructed containing atomic groups with positive contributions to membrane permeability and selectivity. According to the reference Morgan fingerprint, 204 potential polymers were explored from the largest polymer database (PoLyInfo). By calculating the similarities between each potential polymer and both reference Morgan fingerprints, 23 polymer candidates were selected and could be further used for LBL NF membrane fabrication with the potential for providing good membrane performance. Overall, this work provided new ways both for LBL NF membrane performance prediction and high-performance polymer candidate exploration. The source code for the models and algorithms used in this study is publicly available to facilitate replication and further research. https://github.com/wangliwfsd/LLNMPP/.