The vast majority of membranes used in industry are fabricated by a phase inversion process because it is simple and easy to scale up. However, one of the big limitations of phase inversion processes is the inefficient way of adding fillers to the membrane. The fillers are in the casting solution, and end up not only in the dense layer where they are needed, but also all over the porous support layer. This is not economically feasible, especially for the case of expensive fillers like metal ions or metal nanoparticles.
Accordingly, there is a need to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies, among others discussed below.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds