Simultaneous Recovery of Metal Ions and Electricity Harvesting via K-Carrageenan@ZIF-8 Membrane

A sustainable and eco-friendly approach for environmental and energy management using biopolymers chitosan, lignin and cellulose - A review

Biopolymers are a naturally occurring alternative to synthetic polymers that are linked by covalent bonds, which includes cellular components such as proteins, nucleotides, lipids, and polysaccharides. Based on the extensive literature review it was found that chitosan, lignin, and cellulose were predominantly used in the energy and environmental sectors. Due to their vast array of qualities, including the adsorption, flocculation, anticoagulation, and furthermore, have made them useful for treating wastewater and pollutant removal. Chitosan and lignin have been used as a proton exchange membrane in the energy storage device of fuel cells. As these biopolymers develop strong coordination connections with metal surfaces, they act as an anticorrosive agent, which inhibiting the corrosion. Besides, there are a lot of recent developments in the application of biopolymers for energy and environmental fields. The present review provides a concise summary of recent developments in membrane-based biopolymers role in energy and environmental field. In addition, this review is drawn to a conclusion with a discussion of future trends in the real application of biopolymers in a variety of different industries, as well as the financial significance of these future trends.

Advances of Electroactive Metal-Organic Frameworks

The preparation of electroactive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for applications of supercapacitors and batteries has received much attention and remarkable progress during the past few years. MOF-based materials including pristine MOFs, hybrid MOFs or MOF composites, and MOF derivatives are well designed by a combination of organic linkers (e.g., carboxylic acids, conjugated aromatic phenols/thiols, conjugated aromatic amines, and N-heterocyclic donors) and metal salts to construct predictable structures with appropriate properties. This review will focus on construction strategies of pristine MOFs and hybrid MOFs as anodes, cathodes, separators, and electrolytes in supercapacitors and batteries. Descriptions and discussions follow categories of electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), pseudocapacitors (PSCs), and hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs) for supercapacitors. In contrast, Li-ion batteries (LIBs), Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), Lithium-oxygen batteries (LOBs), Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), Sodium-sulfur batteries (SSBs), Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), Zinc-air batteries (ZABs), Aluminum-sulfur batteries (ASBs), and others (e.g., LiSe, NiZn, H⁺ , alkaline, organic, and redox flow batteries) are categorized for batteries.

Recent advances in exploiting carrageenans as a versatile functional material for promising biomedical applications

Carrageenans are a group of biopolymers widely found in red seaweeds. Commercial carrageenans have been traditionally used as emulsifiers, stabilizers, and thickening and gelling agents in food products. Carrageenans are regarded as bioactive polysaccharides with disease-modifying and microbiota-modulating activities. Novel biomedical applications of carrageenans as biocompatible functional materials for fabricating hydrogels and nanostructures, including carbon dots, nanoparticles, and nanofibers, have been increasingly exploited. In this review, we describe the unique structural characteristics of carrageenans and their functional relevance. We summarize salient physicochemical features, including thixotropic and shear-thinning properties, of carrageenans. Recent results from clinical trials in which carrageenans were applied as both antiviral and antitumor agents and functional materials are discussed. We also highlight the most recent advances in the development of carrageenan-based targeted drug delivery systems with various pharmaceutical formulations. Promising applications of carrageenans as a bioink material for 3D printing in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are systematically evaluated. We envisage some key hurdles and challenges in the commercialization of carrageenans as a versatile material for clinical practice. This comprehensive review of the intimate relationships among the structural features, unique rheological properties, and biofunctionality of carrageenans will provide novel insights into their biomedicine application potential.

Research on Membranes and Their Associated Processes at the Université Paris-Est Créteil: Progress Report, Perspectives, and National and International Collaborations

Research on membranes and their associated processes was initiated in 1970 at the University of Paris XII/IUT de Créteil, which became in 2010 the University Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC). This research initially focused on the development and applications of pervaporation membranes, then concerned the metrology of ion-exchange membranes, then expanded to dialysis processes using these membranes, and recently opened to composite membranes and their applications in production or purification processes. Both experimental and fundamental aspects have been developed in parallel. This evolution has been reinforced by an opening to the French and European industries, and to the international scene, especially to the Krasnodar Membrane Institute (Kuban State University-Russia) and to the Department of Chemistry, (Qassim University-Saudi Arabia). Here, we first presented the history of this research activity, then developed the main research axes carried out at UPEC over the 2012-2022 period; then, we gave the main results obtained, and finally, showed the cross contribution of the developed collaborations. We avoided a chronological presentation of these activities and grouped them by theme: composite membranes and ion-exchange membranes. For composite membranes, we have detailed three applications: highly selective lithium-ion extraction, bleach production, and water and industrial effluent treatments. For ion-exchange membranes, we focused on their characterization methods, their use in Neutralization Dialysis for brackish water demineralization, and their fouling and antifouling processes. It appears that the research activities on membranes within UPEC are very dynamic and fruitful, and benefit from scientific exchanges with our Russian partners, which contributed to the development of strong membrane activity on water treatment within Qassim University. Finally, four main perspectives of this research activity were given: the design of autonomous and energy self-sufficient processes, refinement of characterization by Electrochemical Scanning Microscopy, functional membrane separators, and green membrane preparation and use.

Negatively Charged MOF-Based Composite Anion Exchange Membrane with High Cation Selectivity and Permeability

Every metal and metallurgical industry is associated with the generation of wastewater, influencing the living and non-living environment, which is alarming to environmentalists. The strict regulations about the dismissal of acid and metal into the environment and the increasing emphasis on the recycling/reuse of these effluents after proper remedy have focused the research community's curiosity in developing distinctive approaches for the recovery of acid and metals from industrial wastewaters. This study reports the synthesis of UiO-66-(COOH)₂ using dual ligand in water as a green solvent. Then, the prepared MOF nanoparticles were introduced into the DMAM quaternized QPPO matrix through a straightforward blending approach. Four defect-free UiO-66-(COOH)₂/QPPO MMMs were prepared with four different MOF structures. The BET characterization of UiO-66-(COOH)₂ nanoparticles with a highly crystalline structure and sub-nanometer pore size (~7 Å) was confirmed by XRD. Because of the introduction of MOF nanoparticles with an electrostatic interaction and pore size screening effect, a separation coefficient (S_HCl/FeCl2) of 565 and U_HCl of 0.0089 m·h^-1 for U-C(60)/QPPO were perceived when the loading dosage of the MOF content was 10 wt%. The obtained results showed that the prepared defect-free MOF membrane has broad prospects in acid recovery applications.

Metal–organic framework-based solid-state electrolytes for all solid-state lithium metal batteries: a review

This work systematically reviewed recent progress of MOF-based solid electrolytes in all solid-state metal batteries which has rarely been summarized.

A Review on Mixed Matrix Membranes for Solvent Dehydration and Recovery Process

Solvent separation and dehydration are important operations for industries and laboratories. Processes such as distillation and extraction are not always effective and are energy-consuming. An alternate approach is offered by pervaporation, based on the solution-diffusion transport mechanism. Polymer-based membranes such as those made of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) have offered good pervaporation performance. Attempts have been made to improve their performance by incorporating inorganic fillers into the PDMS matrix, in which metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have proven to be the most efficient. Among the MOFs, Zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) based membranes have shown an excellent performance, with high values for flux and separation factors. Various studies have been conducted, employing ZIF-PDMS membranes for pervaporation separation of mixtures such as aqueous-alcoholic solutions. This paper presents an extensive review of the pervaporation performance of ZIF-based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs), novel synthesis methods, filler modifications, factors affecting membrane performance as well as studies based on polymers other than PDMS for the membrane matrix. Some suggestions for future studies have also been provided, such as the use of biopolymers and self-healing membranes.

Improved osmotic energy conversion in heterogeneous membrane boosted by three-dimensional hydrogel interface

The emerging heterogeneous membranes show unprecedented superiority in harvesting the osmotic energy between ionic solutions of different salinity. However, the power densities are limited by the low interfacial transport efficiency caused by a mismatch of pore alignment and insufficient coupling between channels of different dimensions. Here we demonstrate the use of three-dimensional (3D) gel interface to achieve high-performance osmotic energy conversion through hybridizing polyelectrolyte hydrogel and aramid nanofiber membrane. The ionic diode effect of the heterogeneous membrane facilitates one-way ion diffusion, and the gel layer provides a charged 3D transport network, greatly enhancing the interfacial transport efficiency. When used for harvesting the osmotic energy from the mixing of sea and river water, the heterogeneous membrane outperforms the state-of-the-art membranes, to the best of our knowledge, with power densities of 5.06 W m^-2. The diversity of the polyelectrolyte and gel makes our strategy a potentially universal approach for osmotic energy conversion.