Sustainable and affordable supply of clean, safe, and adequate water is one of the most challenging issues facing the world. Membrane separation technology is one of the most cost-effective and widely applied technologies for water purification. Polymeric membranes such as cellulose-based (CA) membranes and thin-film composite (TFC) membranes have dominated the industry since 1980. Although further development of polymeric membranes for better performance is laborious, the research findings and sustained progress in inorganic membrane development have grown fast and solve some remaining problems. In addition to conventional ceramic metal oxide membranes, membranes prepared by graphene oxide (GO), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and mixed matrix materials (MMMs) have attracted enormous attention due to their desirable properties such as tunable pore structure, excellent chemical, mechanical, and thermal tolerance, good salt rejection and/or high water permeability. This review provides insight into synthesis approaches and structural properties of recent reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes which are used to retain dissolved species such as heavy metals, electrolytes, and inorganic salts in various aqueous solutions. A specific focus has been placed on introducing and comparing water purification performance of different classes of polymeric and ceramic membranes in related water treatment industries. Furthermore, the development challenges and research opportunities of organic and inorganic membranes are discussed and the further perspectives are analyzed.

As the lightest structural materials, magnesium (Mg) alloys play a significant role in vehicle weight reduction, aerospace, military equipment, energy saving, and emission reduction. However, the poor corrosion resistance of Mg alloys has become a bottleneck restricting its wide application. Developing a good surface protective coating can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of Mg alloys. The silane-based sol-gel coating technology has been widely used in the corrosion protection of Mg alloys in recent years due to its advantages of simple process, accessible tailoring of film composition and structure, and excellent corrosion resistance. Whereas the synthesis of sol-gel coatings includes the hydrolysis and dehydration process, which may inherently contain micron or nano defects in the coatings, thereby making it detrimental to the anti-corrosion effect. Therefore, in order to enhance their protection against corrosion, the appropriate modification of sol-gel coatings has become a current research hotspot. This review is based on the modification methods of silane-based sol-gels on the surface of Mg alloys, which are divided into four categories: bare sol-gel, nanoparticles, corrosion inhibitors, and sol-gel-based composite coatings. The modification methods and corrosion protection mechanism are discussed respectively, and the application, development, and research strategies of silane-based sol-gel coatings are included.

Graphene oxide (GO), derived from the two-dimensional nanosheet graphene, has received unprecedented attention in the field of metal corrosion protection owing to its excellent barrier performance and various active functional groups. In this review, the protection mechanism “labyrinth effect” of composite coatings against metal corrosion was demonstrated systematically. The origination, structure and properties of GO were also analyzed. Their poor dispersion in polymer and tendency to aggregate as nanofillers in composite coatings are the main limitations during application of the coating fillers. In addition, a comprehensive overview on the perspectives of the surface modification of GO and the multi-functionalization of the composite coatings based on GO were given in particular. Green modification methods, reasonable arrangement of GO sheets in composites and development of multi-functional coatings remain challenges in current studies and should be a focus in the future development of GO-based anticorrosive coatings. This review is of value to researchers interested in the design and application of GO in corrosion protection coatings.

Corrosion inhibition of AZ31 Mg alloy with aqueous vanadate was studied and has been attributed to the pH dependence of vanadate speciation. Immersion in tetrahedral coordinated vanadate species, present in neutral and alkaline solution, was shown to decrease corrosion current density and increase the breakdown potential, both of which were enhanced with longer immersion times. Exposure to octahedral coordinated vanadate, predominant in acidic solution, only slightly decreased corrosion current density. An acidic solution was adjusted to alkaline conditions and samples were immersed in the adjusted alkaline solution. Inhibition of these samples was weaker than that of samples immersed in initially alkaline solutions. Anodic inhibition was observed on samples treated in solutions containing tetrahedral species. SEM images showed that vanadate formed a film across secondary particles and the Mg matrix, and provided qualitative evidence that inhibition efficiency increased as the pH increased. XPS results indicated that film formation was associated with the reductive adsorption of vanadium oxoions. Exposure at pH 5.0 produced a film predominated by V⁴⁺. Exposure at pH values of 7.7 and higher, however, produced a film containing predominantly V³⁺. Raman analysis confirmed the formation of a vanadate film on the Mg surface after exposure at all pH values.