Ion Exchange Membrane “ABC” – A Key Material for Upgrading Process Industries

Abstract

AbstractIon exchange membrane plays a crucial role in transforming and upgrading traditional chemical manufacturing procedures and boosting a multitude of new applications. Due to the strict regulations on wastewater discharge and increasing demands of renewable energy, anion exchange membrane (“A” membrane), bipolar membrane (“B” membrane) and cation exchange membrane (“C” membrane) have become a key material for upgrading various process industries. Herein, we summarized several novel synthetic routes for “ABC” membranes fabrication from the viewpoints of designing novel membrane synthetic routes, regulating the ionic transport channels, imparting dynamic transfer regions, introducing intrinsic micro‐porosity into the membrane and among others. The account includes a brief introduction to membrane structure designs and fabrications, emerging and industrial applications, and perspectives on ion exchange membranes. Who is the most influenced person in your academic career?My supervisor academician Binglin He.How do you get into the field of ion exchange membrane?I got in contact with ion exchange membranes during my postdoc research in Nankai University under the guidance of Prof. Binglin He. My supervisor is known as “father of China's ion exchange resin”. But in the synthesis of ion exchange resin, the resin pellets larger than 6 mm or smaller than 4 mm cannot be used and are directly discarded. Therefore, Prof. He asked me to explore how to convert them into membrane shape so as to reuse the wasted resin. Since then I entered the field of ion exchange membrane.In your opinion, what is the most promising ion exchange membrane in the next couple years?Alkaline stable anion‐exchange membranes that can be used for hydrogen production from electrolytic water splitting, fuel cells, and electrochemical ammonia synthesis, etc.Besides the fundamental research, why do you spend a lot time andenergy to industrialize the ion exchange membrane?Ion exchange membrane is relatively a narrow product in the field of separation membrane materials. Nowadays, there are tremendous demands of these kind of membranes due to the stricter regulations on wastewater disposal. However, the development of ion exchange membranes in China lags far behind that in other developed countries. As a scientist in this filed, I believe that I have the responsibility to promote the development and advancement of our domestic ion exchange membrane. For this reason, four licensed patents of us have been transferred for industrialization and more than 400000 m2 of membranes were used per year in various industries.What is the greatest honor for your academic achievement?My students are my greatest honor. I am proud of more and more students being graduated from my lab, who have played/will play important roles in making our country stronger.What's your hobbies?Walking, playing basketball and cards.