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Updated: May 4, 2026

Electrophoretic Crystallization of Ultrathin High-performance Metal-organic Framework Membranes
Published on: August 16, 2018
Nanofiber supported thin-film composite membrane for pressure-retarded osmosis
Nhu-Ngoc Bui1, Jeffrey R McCutcheon
1Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of Connecticut ; Storrs, Connecticut 06269, United States.
Abstract:
Sustainable energy can be harnessed from fluids of differing salinity using a process known as pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO). We address one of the critical challenges of advance PRO by introducing a novel electrospun nanofiber-supported thin-film composite PRO membrane platform. The support was tiered with layers of nanofibers of different diameters to better withstand hydraulic pressure. The membranes successfully withstood an applied hydraulic pressure of 11.5 bar and exhibited performance that would produce an equivalent peak power density near 8.0 W/m(2) under real conditions (using 0.5 M NaCl and deionized water as the draw and feed solutions, respectively). This result shows the immense promise of nanofiber supported thin-film composite membranes for use in PRO.
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