The development of new multifunctional membranes and materials which respond to external stimuli, such as pH, temperature, light, biochemicals or magnetic or electrical signals, represents new approaches to separations, reactions, or recognitions. With multiple cooperative functions, responsive membranes and materials have applications which range from biopharmaceutical, to drug delivery systems to water treatment. This book covers recent advances in the generation and application of responsive materials and includes: Development and design of responsive membranes and materials Carbon nanotube membranes Tunable separations, reactions and nanoparticle synthesis Responsive membranes for water treatment Pore-filled membranes for drug release Biologically-inspired responsive materials and hydrogels Biomimetic polymer gels Responsive Membranes and Materials provides a cutting-edge resource for researchers and scientists in membrane science and technology, as well as specialists in separations, biomaterials, bionanotechnology, drug delivery, polymers, and functional materials.

The development of new multifunctional membranes and materials which respond to external stimuli, such as pH, temperature, light, biochemicals or magnetic or electrical signals, represents new approaches to separations, reactions, or recognitions. With multiple cooperative functions, responsive membranes and materials have applications which range from biopharmaceutical, to drug delivery systems to water treatment. This book covers recent advances in the generation and application of responsive materials and includes: Development and design of responsive membranes and materials Carbon nanotube membranes Tunable separations, reactions and nanoparticle synthesis Responsive membranes for water treatment Pore-filled membranes for drug release Biologically-inspired responsive materials and hydrogels Biomimetic polymer gels Responsive Membranes and Materials provides a cutting-edge resource for researchers and scientists in membrane science and technology, as well as specialists in separations, biomaterials, bionanotechnology, drug delivery, polymers, and functional materials.

Stimuli Responsive Polymeric Membranes: Smart Polymeric Membranes explains the fundamentals and advances in topics relating to the field of membrane science. It elaborately explains concepts relating to stimuli responsive membranes, with special importance given down to minute details. Material selection, preparation, characterization and applications of various stimuli responsive membranes are extensively addressed, and their relevance (including examples) is included. The book covers history and development, merits and demerits, mechanisms of transport and fouling, applicability of membranes to various diverse areas, and preparation and characterization techniques of membranes. Next, the concept of fouling and its remedial actions is discussed. Finally, promising fields of research in the membrane science and future perspectives of membrane science field are explored. - Provides basic and advanced knowledge of smart membranes, considering their morphological, physicochemical and separation characteristics - Written in a clear and lucid style, keeping a diverse audience in mind - Based on the state-of-art research of the authors

Smart materials stimulated by chemical or biological signals are of interest for their many applications including drug delivery, as well as in new sensors and actuators for environmental monitoring, process and food control, and medicine. In contrast to other books on responsive materials, this volume concentrates on materials which are stimulated by chemical or biological signals. Chemoresponsive Materials introduces the area with chapters covering different responsive material systems including hydrogels, organogels, membranes, thin layers, polymer brushes, chemomechanical and imprinted polymers, nanomaterials, silica particles, as well as carbohydrate- and bio-based systems. Many promising applications are highlighted, with an emphasis on drug delivery, sensors and actuators. With contributions from internationally known experts, the book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in academia, healthcare and industry interested in functional materials and their applications.

“Smart Membrane Materials and Systems: From Flat Membranes to Microcapsule Membranes" comprehensively and systematically treats modern understanding of smart or intelligent membranes with environmental stimuli-responsive functions. The contents range from flat membranes to microcapsule membranes with various response properties, such as thermo-response, pH-response, glucose-response, molecular-recognition, and dual-/multi-stimuli-response. While chapters may be read as stand-alone, together they clearly describe cover design concepts, fabrication strategies and methods, microstructures and performances of smart membranes. Vivid schematics and illustrations throughout the book enhance accessibility to the theory and technologies. The book is intended for researchers and postgraduate students in membrane science and technology, separations and controlled-release. Dr. Liang-Yin Chu is a professor at the School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, China. He is a Distinguished Young Scholar of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and a Distinguished Professor of "Chang Jiang Scholars Program" of the Ministry of Education of China.

Introduction to responsive membranes -- pH responsive membranes : theoretical concepts -- pH responsive membrane types, modes, and methods of modifications -- Materials and synthesis of pH responsive membranes -- Biomedical applications of pH responsive membranes -- Recent trend and future prospects.

Membranes are an energy efficient separation technology that are now the basis for many water treatment and food processing applications. However, there is the potential to improve the operating performance of these separations and to extend the application of membranes to energy production, gas separations, organic solvent-based separations, and biomedical applications through novel membrane materials. This book contains 20 chapters written by leading academic researchers on membrane fabrication and modification techniques and provides a comprehensive overview on the recent developments of membrane technology. Membranes can be manufactured from a range of materials including polymeric compounds, and ceramic materials, and both these materials are considered in the book. There are 5 chapters on water and wastewater membranes that cover the fabrication of thin film (TFC) composite membranes for nanofiltration(NF)/reverse osmosis (RO)/forward osmosis (FO) applications, stimuli responsive membranes, electrospun membranes, porous ceramic membranes, and polymeric ultrafiltration (UF) manufacture and modification. There are another 6 chapters on gas separation that consider carbon membranes, zeolite membranes, silica template and metal oxide silica membranes, TFC membranes, silica membranes, and metal organic framework (MOF) membranes. Zeolite membranes are also considered for organic solvent applications, as are solvent-resistant membranes manufactured by phase inversion, ceramic-supported composite membranes, and ceramic NF membranes. The emerging areas of membranes for energy and biomedical applications have 3 and 2 chapters, respectively. Energy applications consider ion exchange membranes for use in fuel cells, membranes for electrodialysis, and membranes for use in microbial fuel cells. For biomedical applications the chapters focus on hemodialysis membranes and redox responsive membranes.