In August 2018, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) used its EurekAlert! news service to present a new way of making desalination membranes, described in Science by a University of Connecticut team led by Maqsud Chowdhury. Instead of growing the polyamide layer at a water and oil interface, the standard for decades, the researchers sprayed the precursors as tiny charged droplets onto a support. The films were down to four nanometres thick instead of 100 to 200, smoother, and appeared to beat commercial reverse osmosis membranes.
The report showed that membrane research at the time focused on the active polyamide layer and sought methods able to control its thickness and roughness layer by layer.
Source: EurekAlert! (Kopie im Webarchiv)