A polyacrylonitrile–polyamide 6/polyaniline (PAN–PA6/PANI) doped membrane was prepared using dual spinneret simultaneous electrospinning of PAN and PA6 and in situ polymerization of aniline at low temperature. The performance of the membrane was investigated in separation of non-surfactant and different surfactant oil/water emulsions like SDS, Tween 80 and Span 80. The field emission electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) results revealed that PAN–PA6 nanofibers are coated uniformly with PANI. According to the atomic force microscopy (AFM) maps, the surface roughness of the fabricated membrane was increased from 51 to 83 after coating, which can improve the membrane flux and oil rejection. The stress–strain test displayed that PA6 improved the PAN mat tensile strength from 3.88 to 11.86 MPa. Post treatment of PAN–PA6/PANI with doping in HCl 1 M can improve the membrane hydrophilicity and separation efficiency. The effect of the polymerization time on the membrane porosity and pore volume was investigated. The optimum time of polymerization where the membrane has high permeate flux (326 Lmh) and oil rejection (97.8%) was found to be 60 min for non-surfactant (hexane/water) emulsion separation. The performance of the membrane was studied for separation of petroleum ether, gasoline and gas oil emulsions in water. The reusability and chemical resistance of the membrane in harsh conditions were investigated.

In this work, MXene as a hydrophilic 2D nanosheet has been suggested to tailor the polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) flat sheet membrane characteristics via bulk modification. The amount of MXene varied in the PPSU casting solution from 0–1.5 wt.%, while a series of characterization tools have been employed to detect the surface characteristics changes. This included atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, pore size and porosity, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results disclosed that the MXene content could significantly influence some of the membranes’ surface characteristics while no effect was seen on others. The optimal MXene content was found to be 0.6 wt.%, as revealed by the experimental work. The roughness parameters of the 0.6 wt.% nanocomposite membrane were notably enhanced, while greater hydrophilicity has been imparted compared to the nascent PPSU membrane. This witnessed enhancement in the surface characteristics of the nanocomposite was indeed reflected in their performance. A triple enhancement in the pure water flux was witnessed without compromising the retention of the membranes against the Cu²⁺, Cd²⁺ and Pd²⁺ feed. In parallel, high, and comparable separation rates (>92%) were achieved by all membranes regardless of the MXene content. In addition, promising antifouling features were observed with the nanocomposite membranes, disclosing that these nanocomposite membranes could offer a promising potential to treat heavy metals-containing wastewater for various applications.

Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCh), as a non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable semi-synthetic biopolymer with mucoadhesive properties, is widely investigated for targeting drug or gene delivery applications. Here, fabrication of CMCh nanoparticles will be reported using a reverse (w/o) micellar system to provide particles with tuneable mean sizes. Reverse microemulsions were prepared by dispersing aqueous solution of CMCh in n-hexane using sodium-bis(ethylhexyl)-sulfosuccinate (AOT) and glutaraldehyde (GA) as an emulsifier and a crosslinking agent, respectively. The obtained particles were perfectly spherical in the nanometric size range (40–140 nm) with a narrow size distribution according to the FE-SEM images. To determine the effective parameters on the mean nanosphere size, CMCh, AOT and GA concentrations were varied according to a full-factorial, three-level design-of-experiments. After evaluating the results, it was found that AOT and CMCh concentrations had a significant effect on the mean nanosphere size while GA concentration surprisingly showed non-significant, minor effects on the same response.