Membrane Mastery: Nanosize silica speeds up sieve

When separating molecules from one another–whether to purify natural gas or clean wastewater–engineers and scientists usually use expensive techniques that require a lot of energy. A less expensive, environmentally friendly–though not always as efficient–option is to filter molecules with membranes made of polymers, carbon, or ceramics.

Now, a new modification to polymer membranes gives researchers a means to tune certain filters so they separate molecules more quickly and more selectively.