Abstract
Membranes are widely used for liquid separations such as removing solute components from solvents or liquid/liquid separations. Due to negligible vapor pressure, adjustable physical properties, and thermal stability, the application of ionic liquids (ILs) has been extended to fabricating a myriad of membranes for liquid separations. A comprehensive overview of the recent developments in ILs in fabricating membranes for liquid separations is highlighted in this review article. Four major functions of ILs are discussed in detail, including their usage as (i) raw membrane materials, (ii) physical additives, (iii) chemical modifiers, and (iv) solvents. Meanwhile, the applications of IL assisted membranes are discussed, highlighting the issues, challenges, and future perspectives of these IL assisted membranes in liquid separations.
Highlights
Membrane-based liquid separation technologies mainly include microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN), reverse osmosis (RO), forward osmosis (FO), and pervaporation (PV)
This review provides a comprehensive overview of four major functions of ionic liquids (ILs) in developing liquid separations membranes
We focus more on supported IL membranes (SILMs) related research works for liquid separations reported in the last 5 years
Summary
Membrane-based liquid separation technologies mainly include microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN), reverse osmosis (RO), forward osmosis (FO), and pervaporation (PV). The IL membranes are much greener and more stable as compared with traditional liquid membranes made from organic solvents, meaning that the usage of ILs overcomes the evaporation loss of organic solvents. Among these types of membranes, BILMs have the lowest contact surface area for extraction while EILMs have the largest contact surface area. On one hand, ILs/PILs could be added into polymer bulk solutions and form a membrane layer possessing excellent stability due to covalent bonds; on the other hand, ILs could be chemically grafted to the membrane surface or serve as membrane additives to improve the separation performance. Problems and challenges in IL related membrane processes for liquid separations are identified and discussed
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