Membranes for energy and the environment

Membranes are critical components for sustainable energy and environment and hold promise for clean technology applications. They enable transport of ions and selective separation of gases and comprise a vast panel of compositions and structures, including inorganic, organic and hybrid membranes.

Scope:

In this symposium, we call for contributions on the synthesis, physical chemistry, properties, function and performance of membranes and their broad range of applications, including membrane technologies for water treatment and desalination, separators for fuel cells, batteries, and electrolysers, membrane actuators, or gas separation membranes including those for hydrogen and CO₂.

Metallic and ceramic membranes are most useful for gas separation and permeation and high temperature applications, such as solid oxide fuel cells.

Polymer, especially ionomer, membranes find their field in low and intermediate temperature applications, including the vast field of water purification and desalination. Ionic membranes are particularly important for applications in energy storage and conversion, including separators for metal batteries and polymer fuel cells.

This symposium will discuss topics from the preparation to the functional application of membranes. Contributions may include various techniques for the synthesis and shaping of membranes, their physicochemical properties and mechanisms, or their functional properties and processes. Studies of the performances for various applications and reports on composition/structure/property/performance relationships are particularly welcome.

Given the growing urgency for environmental and energy solutions, this meeting will cover the latest advances in membrane science, linking fundamental research with practical applications, and provide an optimal venue for a lively exchange of information.

Hot topics to be covered by the symposium:

• Membrane synthesis
• Membrane characterization
• Physical chemistry of membranes
• Fuel cell and electrolyzer membranes
• Battery separators
• Membrane actuators
• Water purification and desalination membranes
• CO₂, H₂ and other gas separation membranes
• Catalytic membranes

List of invited speakers:

• Alberto Figoli (Istituto per la Tecnologia delle Membrane CNR, Rende, Italy)
• Philippe Miele (Institut Européen des Membranes, Montpellier, France)
• Young Moo Lee (Hangyang University, Korea)
• Suli Wang (Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

List of scientific committee members:

• Vito Di Noto, Univ. Padova, Italy
• Michael Guiver, Tianjin Univ., China
• Sandrine Lyonnard, CEA Grenoble, France
• Eugene Smotkin, Northeastern Univ., USA

Publication:

Selected manuscripts will be published in a special issue of the international journal "Membranes" https://www.mdpi.com/journal/membranes, IF 4.2).