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In parallel to the rapid growth in economic and social activities, there has been an undesirable increase in environmental degradation due to the massively produced and disposed waste. The need to manage waste in a more innovative manner has become an urgent matter. In response to the call for circular economy, some solid wastes can offer plenty of opportunities to be reutilized as raw materials for the fabrication of functional, high-value products. In the context of solid waste-derived polymeric membrane development, this strategy can pave a way to reduce the consumption of conventional feedstock for the production of synthetic polymers and simultaneously to dampen the negative environmental impacts resulting from the improper management of these solid wastes. The review aims to offer a platform for overviewing the potentials of reutilizing solid waste in liquid separation membrane fabrication by covering the important aspects, including waste pretreatment and raw material extraction, membrane fabrication and characterizations, as well as the separation performance evaluation of the resultant membranes. Three major types of waste-derived polymeric raw materials, namely keratin, cellulose, and plastics, are discussed based on the waste origins, limitations in the waste processing, and their conversion into polymeric membranes. With the promising material properties and viability of processing facilities, recycling and reutilization of waste resources for membrane fabrication are deemed to be a promising strategy that can bring about huge benefits in multiple ways, especially to make a step closer to sustainable and green membrane production.

Fabricating breakthrough materials capable of desalinating seawater and brine with high selectivity and low energy consumption is crucial for addressing global water and energy challenges. We report here the desalination capability of ultra-thin polymeric films with subnanometer pores synthesized through the polymerization of fluorinated trichlorosilane monomers and diamine-based monomers. The combination of subnanometer pore size, submicron thickness, and superhydrophobicity facilitates efficient liquid-to-vapor phase change in the membrane distillation process, enabling effective desalination performance. The thin-films demonstrate high salt rejection (99.8%), complete boron rejection, and water fluxes of 40 L.m −2 .h −1 (1.88 kWh.m −3 , WRR sp 0.32%) and 238 L.m −2 .h −1 (20.65 kWh.m −3 , WRR sp 3.87%) for seawater at 25 °C and 60 °C, respectively. For the desalination of real seawater reverse osmosis brine at 25 °C, the thin-films maintain 12 L.m −2 .h −1 (4.4 kWh.m −3 , WRR sp 0.09%) under comparable conditions. Their polymeric nature, chlorine resistance, and low energy requirements, indicate a potential for scalable and sustainable desalination systems. Fabricating breakthrough materials capable of desalinating seawater and brine with high selectivity and low energy consumption is vital to address the global water shortage and energy crisis. Here the authors describe the synthesis of thin films with submicron thicknesses and subnanometer pores with outstanding desalination performance.

A hands-on reference for practicing professionals, this book covers the fundamental principles and theories of separation and purification by membranes, the important membrane processes and systems, and major industrial applications. It goes far beyond the basics to address the formulation and industrial manufacture of membranes and applications.

Electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs) are used in a variety of applications, including sensors, tissue engineering, air filtration, energy, and reinforcement in composite materials. Recently, they have gained an interest in the field of liquid filtration. The membranes, surface, bulk, and overall architecture play an important role in the filtration properties and hence the right characterization technique needs to be established, which will pave the way for future developments in the field of filtration. In this article, we have reviewed the recent advances in ENMs for liquid separation application.

Recent scientific advances have made headway in addressing pertinient issues in climate change and the sustainability of our natural environment. This study makes use of a novel approach to desalination that is environment friendly, naturally sustainable and energy efficient, meaning that it is also cost efficient. Evaporation is a key phenomenon in the natural environment and used in many industrial applications including desalination. For a liquid droplet, the vapor pressure changes due to the curved liquid–vapor interface at the droplet surface. The vapor pressure at a convex surface in a pore is, therefore, higher than that at a flat surface due to the capillary effect, and this effect is enhanced as the pore radius decreases. This concept inspired us to design a novel biporous anisotropic membrane for membrane distillation (MD), which enables to desalinate water at ambient temperature and pressure by applying only a small transmembrane temperature gradient. The novel membrane is described as a super-hydrophobic nano-porous/micro-porous composite membrane. A laboratory-made membrane with specifications determined by the theoretical model was prepared for model validation and tested for desalination at different feed inlet temperatures by direct contact MD. A water vapor flux as high as 39.94 ± 8.3 L m −2  h −1 was achieved by the novel membrane at low feed temperature (25 °C, permeate temperature = 20 °C), while the commercial PTFE membrane, which is widely used in MD research, had zero flux under the same operating conditions. As well, the fluxes of the fabricated membrane were much higher than the commercial membrane at various inlet feed temperatures.

One of the most critical issues encountered by polymeric membranes for the gas separation process is the trade-off effect between gas permeability and selectivity. The aim of this work is to develop a simple yet effective coating technique to modify the surface properties of commonly used polysulfone (PSF) hollow fiber membranes to address the trade-off effect for CO2/CH4 and O2/N2 separation. In this study, multilayer coated PSF hollow fibers were fabricated by incorporating a graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet into the selective coating layer made of polyether block amide (Pebax). In order to prevent the penetration of Pebax coating solution into the membrane substrate, a gutter layer of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was formed between the substrate and Pebax layer. The impacts of GO loadings (0.0–1.0 wt%) on the Pebax layer properties and the membrane performances were then investigated. XPS data clearly showed the existence of GO in the membrane selective layer, and the higher the amount of GO incorporated the greater the sp2 hybridization state of carbon detected. In terms of coating layer morphology, increasing the GO amount only affected the membrane surface roughness without altering the entire coating layer thickness. Our findings indicated that the addition of 0.8 wt% GO into the Pebax coating layer could produce the best performing multilayer coated membrane, showing 56.1% and 20.9% enhancements in the CO2/CH4 and O2/N2 gas pair selectivities, respectively, in comparison to the membrane without GO incorporation. The improvement is due to the increased tortuous path in the selective layer, which created a higher resistance to the larger gas molecules (CH4 and N2) compared to the smaller gas molecules (CO2 and O2). The best performing membrane also demonstrated a lower degree of plasticization and a very stable performance over the entire 50-h operation, recording CO2/CH4 and O2/N2 gas pair selectivities of 52.57 (CO2 permeance: 28.08 GPU) and 8.05 (O2 permeance: 5.32 GPU), respectively.

The occurrence of heavy metal ions in water is intractable, and it has currently become a serious environmental issue to deal with. The effects of calcining magnesium oxide at 650 °C and the impacts on the adsorption of pentavalent arsenic from water are reported in this paper. The pore nature of a material has a direct impact on its ability to function as an adsorbent for its respective pollutant. Calcining magnesium oxide is not only beneficial in enhancing its purity but has also been proven to increase the pore size distribution. Magnesium oxide, as an exceptionally important inorganic material, has been widely studied in view of its unique surface properties, but the correlation between its surface structure and physicochemical performance is still scarce. In this paper, magnesium oxide nanoparticles calcined at 650 °C are assessed to remove the negatively charged arsenate ions from an aqueous solution. The increased pore size distribution was able to give an experimental maximum adsorption capacity of 115.27 mg/g with an adsorbent dosage of 0.5 g/L. Non-linear kinetics and isotherm models were studied to identify the adsorption process of ions onto the calcined nanoparticles. From the adsorption kinetics study, the non-linear pseudo-first order showed an effective adsorption mechanism, and the most suitable adsorption isotherm was the non-linear Freundlich isotherm. The resulting R2 values of other kinetic models, namely Webber-Morris and Elovich, were still below those of the non-linear pseudo-first-order model. The regeneration of magnesium oxide in the adsorption of negatively charged ions was determined by making comparisons between fresh and recycled adsorbent that has been treated with a 1 M NaOH solution.

The relationship between the rheological properties of nylon-6,6 solutions and the morphology of their electrospun nanofibers was established. The viscosity of nylon-6,6 in formic acid (90%) was measured in the concentration range of 5 wt%–25 wt% using a programmable viscometer. Electrospinning of nylon-6,6 solutions was carried out under controlled parameters. The chemical structure, morphology and thermal properties of the obtained nanofibers were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. Entanglement concentration (ce) was found to be 15 wt% and a power law relationship between specific viscosity and solution concentration was observed with exponents of 2.0 and 3.3 for semi-dilute unentangled (c < ce) and semi-dilute entangled (c > ce) regimes, respectively. The diameter and uniformity of the nanofibers were found to be dependent on the viscosity. Moreover, the average diameter of electrospun nanofibers was found to be dependent on zero shear rate viscosity and normalized concentration (c/ce) in a power law relationship with exponents of 0.298 and 0.816, respectively. For nylon-6,6 solutions, the entanglement concentration (ce = 15 wt%) provides the threshold viscosity required for the formation of a stable polymeric jet during electrospinning and producing uniform beadless fibers. For concentrations less than ce, beaded fibers with some irregularities are formed. DSC analysis showed an increase in crystallinity of all electrospun samples compared to original polymer. Furthermore, Based on FTIR spectroscopy, α phase is dominant in electrospun nanofibers and minor amount of β and γ phases is also available.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in medical education, including AI-based virtual patients to improve interview skills. However, how much AI-based assessment (ABA) differs from human-based assessment (HBA) remains unclear. This study aimed to compare the quality of clinical interview assessments generated via an ABA (GPT-o1 Pro [ABA-o1] and GPT-5 Pro [ABA-5]) with those generated via an HBA conducted by clinical instructors in an AI-based virtual patient setting. We also examined whether AI reduced evaluation time and assessed agreement across participants with different levels of clinical experience. A standardized case of leg weakness was implemented in an AI-based virtual patient. Seven participants (2 medical students, 3 residents, and 2 attending physicians) each conducted an interview with the AI patient, and transcripts were scored using the 25-item Master Interview Rating Scale (0-125). Three evaluation strategies were compared. First, GPT-o1 Pro and GPT-5 Pro scored each transcript 5 times with different random seeds to test case specificity. Processing time was logged automatically. Second, 5 blinded clinical instructors independently rated each transcript once using the same rubric. Third, reliability metrics were applied. For AI, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) quantified repeatability. For humans, the ICC(2,1) was calculated. Agreement was quantified using the Pearson r, Lin concordance correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman limits of agreement, Cronbach α, and ICC. Time efficiency was expressed as mean minutes per transcript and relative percentage reduction. Mean interview scores were similar across methods (ABA-o1: mean 52.1, SD 6.9; ABA-5: mean 53.2, SD 6.8; HBA: mean 53.7, SD 6.8). Agreement between ABA and HBA was strong (r=0.90; concordance correlation coefficient=0.88) with minimal bias (ABA-o1: mean 0.4, SD 2.7; ABA-5: mean 1.5, SD 5.2; limits of agreement: -4.9 to 5.7 for ABA-o1 and -8.6 to 11.7 for ABA-5). The Cronbach α was 0.81 (ABA-o1), 0.86 (ABA-5), and 0.80 (HBA); the ICC(3,1) was 0.77 (ABA-o1) and 0.82 (ABA-5); and the ICC(2,1) was 0.38 (HBA). The coefficient of variation for ABA was approximately half that of HBA (6.6% vs 13.9%). Processing time for 5 runs was 4 minutes, 19 seconds for ABA-o1 and 3 minutes, 20 seconds for ABA-5 vs 10 minutes, 16 seconds for physicians, corresponding to 58% and 67.6% reductions, respectively. ABA-o1 and ABA-5 produced scores closely matching HBA while demonstrating superior consistency and reliability. In the setting of virtual interview transcripts, these findings suggest that ABA may serve as a valid, rapid, and scalable alternative to HBA, reducing per-assessment time by over half. Applied strategically, AI-based scoring could enable timely feedback, improve efficiency, and reduce faculty workload. Further research is needed to confirm generalizability across broader settings.