Filtration membranes and related compositions, methods and systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11090616-B2
Application number	US-201816039160-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 18, 2018
Priority date	Jan 30, 2012
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

Described herein are filtration membranes and related, compositions, methods and systems and in particular filtration membranes with embedded polymeric micro/nanoparticles and related compositions, methods, and systems.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A bicomposite membrane, the bicomposite membrane comprising
a plurality of nanofibers and/or microfibers attached to a polymer matrix formed by a porous polymeric aggregate comprising polymeric nanoparticles,
wherein the polymeric nanoparticles are formed by hyperbranched polymeric molecules covalently cross-linked to one another, and
wherein the polymeric nanoparticles are homogenously distributed in the polymer matrix.

2. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers and/or microfibers in the bicomposite membrane comprise embedded dendritic nanoparticles.

3. The bicomposite membrane of claim 2 , wherein the embedded dendritic nanoparticles are formed by hyperbranched polymeric molecules covalently cross-linked to one another.

4. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers and/or microfibers in the bicomposite membrane comprise a scaffold component providing a supporting framework for one or more additional components attached to the scaffold providing functionalities to the scaffold.

5. The bicomposite membrane of claim 4 , wherein the scaffold component comprises a polymeric component providing a fiber scaffold and the additional component comprises a dendritic component attached to the polymeric component presenting reactive sites on the fiber scaffold.

6. The bicomposite membrane of claim 5 , wherein the polymeric component comprises at least one of polysulfone (PS), polyethersulfone (PES), poly(vinylidenefluoride) (PVDF) or poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN), and the dendritic component attached to the polymeric component comprises cross-linked hyperbranced PEI, PPI dendrimers or PAMAM dendrimers.

7. The bicomposite membrane of claim 5 , wherein the polymeric component comprises PVDF and the dendritic component attached to the polymeric component comprises PEI.

8. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanofibers and/or microfibers is directly attached to the polymer matrix formed by the porous polymeric aggregate comprising polymeric nanoparticles.

9. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nanofibers and/or microfibers is attached to a support layer and the support layer is further attached to the porous polymeric aggregate comprising polymeric nanoparticles.

10. The bicomposite membrane of claim 9 , wherein the support layer is a polyethylene terephthalate non-woven fabric support layer.

11. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers and/or microfibers are covalently cross-linked to one another.

12. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers and/or microfibers comprise hollow fibers.

13. The bicomposite membrane of claim 12 , wherein the hollow fibers are anion-selective hollow fibers.

14. The bicomposite membrane of claim 12 , wherein the hollow fibers are cation-selective hollow fibers.

15. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers and/or microfibers are coated with separation layers formed by cross-linked hyperbranched PEI.

16. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the nanofibers and/or microfibers form nanofibrous composite membranes attached to the polymer matrix.

17. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the porous polymeric aggregate is formed by a polymer according to Formula I:

wherein:
Q, Y, and Z comprise saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon, aromatic hydrocarbon, or unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons;
m, l, and k independently are integers ranging between 0-50;
at least one of m, l, or k is not equal to zero;
j is an integer ranging between 50-500; and

wherein at least one of Q (when Q≠0), Y (when Y≠0), or Z (when Z≠0), comprises a polymer component functional group.

18. The bicomposite membrane of claim 17 , wherein Q, Y, and Z are independently selected from the group consisting of Formulas II-X

wherein:
n=0 or 1;
m is an integer ranging from 0-15; and
X is a functional group comprising an atom selected from O, S, N, P, or F; and R 1 -R 18 are independently selected from: the polymer component functional group; hydrogen; C 1 -C 20 linear, branched, saturated, unsaturated, or aryl hydrocarbon which are either substituted or unsubstituted with O, N, B, S, P; or substituted O, N, B, S, or P.

19. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric nanoparticles comprise covalently cross-linked dendritic polymer.

20. The bicomposite membrane of claim 19 , wherein the cross-linked dendritic polymer is a polyimine.

21. The bicomposite membrane of claim 20 , wherein the polyimine is poly(ethyleneimine).

22. The bicomposite membrane of claim 21 , wherein the poly(ethyleneimine) has a degree of branching of about 65-70%.

23. The bicomposite membrane of claim 19 , wherein the cross-linked dendritic polymer is present in a concentration of greater than about 20 weight %.

24. The bicomposite membrane of claim 19 , wherein the cross-linked dendritic polymer is present in a concentration of greater than about 40 weight %.

25. The bicomposite membrane of claim 19 , wherein the dendritic polymer comprises a polymer according to Formula XII:

wherein n and m are integers from 2-5, and wherein R1-R4 can be independently hydrogen or hyperbranched polymer moieties.

26. The bicomposite membrane of claim 19 , wherein the dendritic polymer comprises a polymer according to Formula XIII:

wherein n and m are integers from 2-5, and wherein R1-R4 can be independently hydrogen or hyperbranched polymer moieties.

27. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric nanoparticles further comprise cross-linked poly(methacrylic acid).

28. The bicomposite membrane of claim 1 , wherein the polymeric nanoparticles are in a concentration up to about 50% and/or wherein fractal formation of nanoparticle is not detectable.

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn
• Korea Advanced Inst Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Diallo Mamadou S
• Kotte Madhusudhana Rao

Classifications

• B01D69/1071

  Woven, non-woven or net mesh · CPC title

• B01D71/601

  Polyethylenimine · CPC title

• B01D69/106

  Membranes in the pores of a support, e.g. polymerized in the pores or voids · CPC title

• B01D67/00793

  Dispersing a component, e.g. as particles or powder, in another component · CPC title

• B01D69/1251

  by interfacial polymerisation · CPC title