CBET-EPSRC A Game-Changing Approach for Tunable Membrane Development: Novel COF Active Layers Supported by Solvent Resistant Materials

Periodic water shortages in many regions throughout the world are increasing because of population growth, urbanization, economic development, and climate change. The need to provide a safe drinking water supply from increasingly complex sources polluted by multiple contaminants has motivated the development of novel membrane technologies. Pressure-driven nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane processes are increasingly used for drinking water treatment because they are capable of removing all pathogens and most organic and inorganic contaminants in a single treatment step. However, more widespread adoption of these technologies has been limited because of inadequate resistance of state-of-the-art NF and RO membranes to (bio)fouling, compaction, and chemical oxidation coupled with a relatively narrow range of solute selectivity.
This project will overcome the current NF and RO membrane challenges by using pioneering interfacial polymerization (IP) methods to fabricate active layers of two-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (COFs) interfaced with compatible support media. 2D COFs are crystalline, permanently porous, and layered macromolecules with structure, chemical composition, and porosity set through the rational design of their monomers. COFs will provide separating layers comprising uniform pores with tailored size, shape, and variable chemical functionality in contrast to the amorphous and empirically optimized polyamide active layers present in the state-of-the-art NF/RO membranes.
The project contributes fundamental knowledge towards a new class of membranes to affordably solve many of the global water challenges through the design, synthesis, and characterization of a new library of COF-based membrane active layers that will be formed directly on novel support layers and tailored to meet specific performance targets. The novel COF-based membranes have the potential of significantly decreasing the operating costs of membrane based water treatment systems and increasing broader implementation of these technologies.

The membranes created in this project have the potential of significantly decreasing the operating costs of membrane based water treatment systems which will enable broader implementation of these technologies, resulting in new markets for these emerging products and related services.There is strong potential to generate IP on new COF-based membranes from this project. Potentially patentable ideas will be identified by the research team and the necessary patent search, filing, management and subsequent exploitation will be undertaken by Imperial Innovations plc, who will manage licensing negotiations with interested partners. Through detailed market analysis, they will ensure appropriate pricing, segmentation and exclusivity arrangements, as well as identifying any opportunities that are best developed through a spin-out company. Some aspects of our research may reflect 'know-how' rather than patentable technology. In these cases, direct consultancy arrangements between the team and interested partners may be most appropriate. ICON Ltd already manage such consultancy projects for the investigators.

A key output of this grant will be highly trained people, both the directly-funded PDRAs and associated PhD students working with them. Because of the attractive nature of the research, and the opportunity to work with highly skilled PDRAs, it is likely that the scientific and engineering aspects of this project will attract a significant number of MSc and MEng students who will provide further research effort. Importantly, the students will also provide routes to technology transfer, as our MEng final year projects can be performed directly or partially with our industrial partner. Graduate students participating in this project will gain valuable experience leading, collaborating and being mentored in multi-disciplinary and international teams. Students will also have the unique opportunity to be innovation pioneers in developing new methods and materials, and obtained entrepreneurship skills by developing fabrication processes with commercial scalability in the context of how these advances could have positive societal impact. After review to ensure appropriate IP protection, the intention is to publish high quality and high impact papers. The goal is both to attract interest to membranes employed in refining operations, and to stimulate wider research on fundamental issues surrounding membrane applications. Progress will be reported on our webpages which will present the evolving work, news, reports, conference presentations, papers and latest results. We will also interact with the Imperial University Press Officer to provide maximum impact for the project outcomes, targeting general national coverage or selected trade or professional magazines as appropriate. Outreach activities will be aligned with EPSRC's Impact campaign by providing regular press releases, web updates and other publicly accessible information. As we make progress, we will continue to contribute events at the Imperial Festivals in 2018-2020, the annual British Festival of Science Festival and the Royal Society Summer Exhibition. Engagement will be sought from a wider community by offering public seminars and videocasts/podcasts of presentations via bodies such as the European Membrane Society and IChemE. Maximising and monitoring impact: The investigators are responsible for maximising and monitoring impact. They will consider metrics and feedback (data to be compiled by the team of researchers), against provisional (annual) targets indicated and updated as required. Appropriate (remedial) actions and additional opportunities for improved impact will be assigned. Dissemination indicators: Collected news stories (print/web/radio/TV) on web page [one press release / year]. Number of visitors/downloads from website [250 / month], Number of publications [two per PDRA/ year effort], Cumulative citation rates [mean 5 cites / year / paper].