Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026
10:54
Design, Fabrication, and Experimental Characterization of Plasmonic Photoconductive Terahertz Emitters
Published on: July 8, 2013
15.4K
When plasmonics meets membrane technology
A Politano1, A Cupolillo1, G Di Profio2
1Department of Physics, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci cubo 31/C, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy.
Summary
Thermoplasmonics enhances membrane permeability without sacrificing separation efficiency. This review explores its applications, influencing factors, and future potential in membrane processes.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Membrane processes are crucial for separation technologies.
- Enhancing membrane permeability is a key challenge.
- Thermoplasmonics offers a novel approach to thermal membrane modulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the applications of thermoplasmonics in membrane processes.
- To analyze factors influencing thermoplasmonic-enhanced permeability.
- To assess the feasibility and challenges of thermoplasmonic membrane applications.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of thermoplasmonics in membrane science.
- Analysis of heat transfer and fluid dynamics in thermoplasmonic membranes.
- Evaluation of nanoparticle properties and light source parameters.
Main Results:
- Thermoplasmonics can significantly increase membrane permeability.
- Key factors include solvent heat capacity, nanoparticle concentration, light intensity, and flow rate.
- Membrane rejection (selectivity) is largely unaffected by thermoplasmonic effects.
Conclusions:
- Thermoplasmonics presents a promising, non-damaging method for improving membrane performance.
- Further research is needed on nanoparticle selection, light source optimization, and scalability.
- Potential applications span various separation fields requiring enhanced flux.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:34Fluid Mosaic Model
The fluid mosaic model was first proposed as a visual representation of research observations. The model comprises the composition and dynamics of membranes and serves as a foundation for future membrane-related studies. The model depicts the structure of the plasma membrane with a variety of components, which include phospholipids, proteins, and carbohydrates. These integral molecules are loosely bound, defining the cell’s border and providing fluidity for optimal function.LipidsThe most...
01:54What are Membranes?
A key characteristic of life is the ability to separate the external environment from the internal space. To do this, cells have evolved semi-permeable membranes that regulate the passage of biological molecules. Additionally, the cell membrane defines a cell’s shape and interactions with the external environment. Eukaryotic cell membranes also serve to compartmentalize the internal space into organelles, including the endomembrane structures of the nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi...
01:24What are Membranes?
A cell's plasma membrane demarcates the cell's borders and determines the nature of its interaction with the environment. Cells exclude certain substances, take in others, and excrete some others in controlled quantities. The plasma membrane must be flexible to allow certain cells, such as red and white blood cells, to change their shape while passing through narrow capillaries. These are the more obvious plasma membrane functions. In addition, the plasma membrane's surface carries markers that...
01:19Fluid Mosaic Model
Scientists identified the plasma membrane in the 1890s and its principal chemical components (lipids and proteins) by 1915. The model for plasma membrane structure, proposed in 1935 by Hugh Davson and James Danielli, was the first model to be widely accepted in the scientific community. The model was based on the plasma membrane's "railroad track" appearance in early electron micrographs. Davson and Danielli theorized that the plasma membrane's structure resembled a sandwich with the analogy of...
01:22Enlargement of the Plasma Membrane
Cell division and enlargement are processes that require precise control. The control ensures that cell division cannot proceed unless the cell has grown to a specific size. A spherical, dividing cell requires an approximately 1.6X increase in its surface area to double its volume. The secretory pathway also has a significant role in cell membrane enlargement. Secretory vesicles that bud off from the Golgi apparatus and later fuse with the plasma membrane during exocytosis are a major source of...
01:15Potentiometry: Membrane Electrodes
Membrane electrodes, also known as p-ion electrodes, use membranes that selectively interact with free analyte ions, generating a potential difference across the membrane. The resulting membrane potential, known as the asymmetry potential, is not zero even when analyte concentrations on both sides of the membrane are equal. The membrane's response is typically not selective to a single analyte but proportional to the concentration of all ions in the sample solution capable of interacting at the...