Chapter 5 - Polymeric composite/nanocomposite membranes for diverse applications

Abstract

Nowadays polymer nanocomposites are involved in a wide range of applications because they are highly suitable on an industrial scale. When we look toward today’s world, we can see how polymer nanocomposites are involved everywhere in our daily lives. Polymeric nanocomposite membranes have tremendous utility in industrial applications: gas separation, water desalination, wastewater treatment, pharmaceutical uses (for separation of enantiomers), water vapor removal from flue gases, and so on. As experts in this field we have utilized polymeric composite and nanocomposite membranes for the earlier-mentioned applications on a lab scale, a pilot scale, and even an industrial scale. During the past decade, polymeric nanocomposite materials have been developed by several researchers who studied many applications, but the researchers are still facing the biggest challenge: “the proper dispersion of nanoparticles” in the nanocomposites. To overcome this challenge, we focused on improving the dispersibility of nanoparticles in nanocomposite membranes by functionalizing the nanoparticles in a variety of ways and worked on applying them to diverse applications. In this chapter we discuss the recent development in composite/nanocomposite membrane technology considering several ongoing applications, along with the effect of nanoparticles in the polymeric nanocomposite membranes.