Membranes最新文献

{"title":"Rapid Screening and Analysis of Putative Bioactive Candidates in Zhizhu Decoction Using Membrane-Based Affinity Ultrafiltration-Mass Spectrometry.","authors":"Shujun Wang, Renai Fu, Xiaowen Hua, Yongbing Xu, Yingying Zhang, Mingquan Guo","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100322","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100322","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Zhizhu Decoction (ZZD), as a classic traditional Chinese medicine prescription, has long served as an effective treatment for obesity. However, rapid analysis of its putative bioactive components and their mechanisms of action remains a challenging task due to its chemical complexity and a lack of target-based screening strategies. This study established a rapid screening system using ultrafiltration membrane-based bio-affinity ultrafiltration-mass spectrometry (AUF-MS), combining lipase and α-glucosidase for targeted screening. Ultrafiltration centrifuge tubes made of regenerated cellulose membrane material were used as the core separation unit: following incubation of the enzymes with ZZD, the ultrafiltration membrane preferentially retained compounds in the presence of the target enzymes, while unbound free small molecules were removed through multi-stage buffer centrifugation and washing. Subsequently, compounds showing preferential retention in the presence of the target enzymes were eluted and further characterized using ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). Candidate bioactive compounds were further evaluated in a free fatty acid (FFA)-induced lipid deposition cell model. We detected 39 compounds in the ZZD extract, and through an ultrafiltration membrane screening system, at least 12 compounds showing preferential retention in the presence of lipase were successfully putatively identified. Notably, naringin, hesperidin, and poncirin showed preferential retention in the lipase-based AUF-MS screening, and their potential cellular lipid-regulating effects were further evaluated in a free fatty acid (FFA)-induced lipid deposition cell model, where all three compounds were associated with reduced lipid accumulation and triglyceride content under the tested conditions. In particular, naringin and hesperidin showed notable effects at relatively low concentrations, highlighting their potential as promising bioactive compounds for further investigation. The study identified several putative enzyme-interacting candidates from ZZD using a membrane-based AUF-MS screening strategy, and selected compounds were further evaluated in an FFA-induced HepG2 cell model for their potential lipid-regulating effects. More importantly, it demonstrated the feasibility of applying the screening strategy for preliminary candidate identification.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"NanoConfinementChat: A Domain-Specific Large Language Model for Mechanistic Interpretation of Nanoconfined Water and Ion Transport in Membrane Nanochannels.","authors":"Shuhan Liu, Yao He, Youyang Liu, Ziyi Yan, Xinyu Zhang, Yuxin Xiao, Zhen Li, Ning Wei","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100319","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100319","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nanoconfined water and ion transport determines permeability and selectivity in membrane nanochannels, yet the relevant mechanisms are dispersed across material systems, molecular simulations, and theoretical studies, hindering systematic mechanism-oriented knowledge synthesis. Here, we develop NanoConfinementChat, a domain-specific large language model (LLM) for analyzing transport mechanisms in ion-selective membrane nanochannels. A curated corpus of 518 papers was used to construct 8500 mechanism-oriented instruction-answer pairs for supervised fine-tuning (SFT) of Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct using low-rank adaptation (LoRA). A retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) module was further integrated for literature grounding and source tracing, and model performance was assessed using a 90-question gold-point benchmark. Without RAG, NanoConfinementChat achieved an average benchmark score of 2.144 and a major scientific error rate of 2.22%, compared with 11.11-13.33% for the two baseline models. Case studies showed improved mechanistic interpretation of ordered water transport, dehydration-driven ion exclusion, graphene oxide interlayer-spacing effects, electrostatic exclusion, and evidence requirements for interfacial slip. Domain fine-tuning provided the primary performance gain, while RAG improved source traceability. The framework offers a lightweight approach for evidence-grounded interpretation of structure-mechanism-transport relationships in membrane nanochannels.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Polysulfone Hollow Fiber Mixed Matrix Membrane Contactor Incorporating Fluorinated Silicon Carbide Nanoparticles for CO₂ Absorption.","authors":"Amin Dehghani, Masoud Rahbari-Sisakht, Amir Mansourizadeh, Ahmad Fauzi Ismail","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100320","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are a major driver of global climate change, creating an urgent need for efficient carbon capture technologies. Gas-liquid membrane contactors (GLMCs) offer high interfacial area and operational flexibility, but membrane pore wetting can limit their long-term performance. In this study, fluorinated silicon carbide (F-SiC) nanoparticles were incorporated into polysulfone (PSf) hollow fiber membranes to improve hydrophobicity, wetting resistance, and CO₂ absorption performance. Mixed-matrix membranes containing 0, 2, 4, and 6 wt.% F-SiC were fabricated by wet phase inversion. CO₂ absorption was evaluated using distilled water and 1 M NaOH as absorbents. F-SiC incorporation increased the water contact angle from 77.5° to 107.0° and the critical entry pressure of water (CEPw) from 4.0 to 10.0 bar. The membrane containing 4 wt.% F-SiC (S4) showed the highest CO₂ absorption fluxes of 7.6 × 10^-4 and 1.59 × 10^-3 mol m^-2 s^-1 using distilled water and 1 M NaOH, respectively. Long-term stability tests showed that the onset of flux decline was delayed from 35 h for the pristine membrane to 125 h for S4, while the flux loss after 145 h was reduced from 44.44% to 12.25%, demonstrating excellent resistance to pore wetting. These results highlight the potential of F-SiC-modified PSf hollow fiber membranes for efficient and durable CO₂ capture in GLMC applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mitigation of Delamination Between Bilayer Membranes with Low Affinity to Enable Roll-to-Roll Fabrication.","authors":"Minwoo Jung, Eesh M Kulshrestha, Isabel C Escobar, Tequila A L Harris","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100314","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Single-layer membranes, despite their ease of fabrication and performance, often face material characteristic limitations that are employed for membrane fabrication, such as polymer fouling propensity and low mechanical strength. To mitigate such material drawbacks, bilayer membranes were developed to use multiple materials with the potential to mitigate the disadvantages of using a single material. When fabricating bilayer membranes with different polymers, varying affinities between the polymers can lead to significant challenges. Specifically, if the affinity between the polymers is low, delamination often occurs. This phenomenon poses a substantial limitation on the combinations of polymers that can be utilized in the construction of bilayer membranes. Understanding and addressing the affinity issues are crucial for membrane performance and expanding the range of applicable materials. This work explores the behavior of two low-affinity polymeric membrane materials: polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) and polysulfone (PSf), which are prone to delamination. PSf and PVDF-HFP were selected due to their relative RED values and their established applications in membrane fabrication. A scalable process incorporating slot-die coating on a roll-to-roll (R2R) system followed by non-solvent-induced phase inversion (NIPS) is used to fabricate the bilayer membranes. To mitigate delamination between these polymers, additive polymers were strategically employed: poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to enhance interfacial affinity, or polydopamine (PDA) to promote hydrogen bonding. This approach yielded an ultrafiltration bilayer membrane that achieved a 2B rating on the ASTM D3359-B standard for adhesion at the interface between layers. Scaled fabrication of bilayer membranes is enabled by this work.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Macroporous PES Composite Membranes Built on an sPES-Containing Asymmetric Platform for Improved Fermentation-Broth Filtration.","authors":"Soyoung Moon, Jaehyun Yoo, Yongmin Shin, Sungryul Park","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100318","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100318","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>High clean-water throughput does not necessarily translate into rapid fermentation-broth filtration. We hypothesized that a macroporous upstream layer combined with an asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) membrane could unite rapid filtration at low broth concentration with improved performance under a greater fouling challenge. Development progressed from symmetric and asymmetric manufacturing platforms through layered proof-of-concept tests to a PES composite. Preliminary asymmetric-PES/nitrocellulose assemblies increased average broth flux 4.81-fold at 100-fold dilution and 3.74-fold at 50-fold dilution relative to their respective bare-base controls. A separately cast PES upstream layer was then developed using mixed polyethylene-glycol additives and vapor/non-solvent-induced phase separation. The selected 40 µm layer had an open particulate morphology and a clean-water flux of 147,000 L m^-2 h^-1. Its composite filtered 100 mL of 50-fold diluted <i>Escherichia coli</i> broth in 52.35 s versus 185 s for an asymmetric-base reference. Subsequent upstream incorporation of 0.5 wt% acid-form sulfonated PES improved composite broth flux 1.77-2.25-fold despite lower isolated-layer water flux; both tested coupons exceeded two commercial references in the same session. The final PES and PES/sPES-H composites were compared at 50-fold dilution only. These results support the architectural hypothesis and establish a third-generation PES composite through coordinated development of upstream morphology, composition and interlayer contact.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electrocatalytic Oxidation as an Effective Pretreatment for Ultrafiltration Fouling Control: Modulation of EfOM Characteristics and Fouling Pathways.","authors":"Tao Xu","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100317","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ultrafiltration membranes are widely used in wastewater reuse systems, but membrane fouling caused by effluent organic matter (EfOM) remains a major limitation. In this study, electrocatalytic oxidation (EO) was applied as a pretreatment strategy to regulate EfOM properties and alleviate UF membrane fouling. The effects of EO pretreatment at different current densities on membrane performance, organic matter transformation, and fouling mechanisms were systematically investigated. The results demonstrated that EO significantly enhanced flux stability and fouling reversibility with different current densities. These improvements were associated with changes in EfOM characteristics after EO treatment, including decreased DOC and UV₂₅₄ values, a shift toward lower-molecular-weight fractions, and variations in fluorescent organic components. Fouling model analysis revealed that EO pretreatment shifted the dominant fouling mechanism from cake layer formation toward pore-blocking process. This study provides insights into EO-assisted fouling control and highlights its potential as an effective pretreatment approach for improving UF performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multicomponent Modification of Polyethylene-Based Films for Enhanced Hydrophobicity and Balanced Gas Transport and Water Vapor Barrier Properties.","authors":"Lijing Duan, Shuaiqi Fang, Leying Sun, Yawen Wang, Haobo Xiu, Huabin Wang, Abin Chen, Baoxiu Wang, Shiqiang Song, Zhenlin Jiang","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100316","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hydrophobic gas-permeable polyethylene films with balanced water vapor resistance and gas transport properties are desirable for membrane applications; however, achieving an effective balance between moisture barrier performance and gas permeability remains challenging. In this work, dense non-porous polyethylene-based composite films were fabricated through melt blending and film casting by incorporating fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer (FEP), polyethylene wax (PE wax), and hydrophobic silica nanoparticles (SiO₂). The effects of multicomponent modification on surface properties, crystallization behavior, morphology, and transport performance were investigated. The optimized formulation, PEH-2, containing 3 wt% PE wax and 1 wt% hydrophobic SiO₂ based on the LLDPE/POE matrix, exhibited the most balanced transport performance. The synergistic regulation of surface energy, interfacial morphology, and diffusion pathways by FEP, PE wax, and SiO₂ enhanced hydrophobicity while maintaining CO₂ transport capability. The dense composite structure increased resistance to water vapor diffusion, whereas regulated molecular pathways facilitated CO₂ transport. PEH-2 exhibited a water contact angle of 110.75°, a CO₂ transmission rate of 6498 cm³·m^-2·day^-1 at 0.1 MPa, and a WVTR of 1.20 g·m^-2·day^-1. The CO₂ transmission rate/WVTR ratio (approximately 5.4 × 10³) was used to evaluate the balance between gas transport and moisture barrier performance. This study provides a scalable strategy for designing polyethylene-based composite membranes with balanced moisture resistance and gas transport properties.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biomimetic ADME Profiling of Multifunctional Biphenylalkoxyamine-Related Histamine H₃ Receptor Ligands with Anti-Alzheimer Potential.","authors":"Stefan Simić, Dorota Łażewska, Predrag Kalaba, Judith Wackerlig-Damle, Thierry Langer","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100315","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100315","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Multifunctional histamine H₃ receptor (H₃R) ligands with cholinesterase inhibitory activity are being explored as potential Alzheimer's disease therapeutics, but their interactions with biological membranes and associated ADME properties require parallel evaluation. Here, six structurally related alkoxyamine H₃R ligands were characterized using an HPLC-based biomimetic workflow centered on immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) chromatography to assess phospholipid affinity, estimate passive blood-brain barrier permeability and human intestinal absorption. IAM measurements were complemented by HSA/AGP plasma protein binding, biomimetic distribution descriptors, plasma stability, chromatographic lipophilicity at pH 7.4 and solubility in JP1 (pH 1.2), JP2 (pH 6.8), and phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). The IAM models classified all six ligands as CNS-positive and predicted high intestinal absorption, while CHI_IAM values indicated strong membrane affinity. After 24 h, 77.5-89.5% and 62.2-80.5% parent compound remained in human and rat plasma, respectively. Solubility remained measurable across all three media. Integrated consideration of membrane-related ADME properties and previously reported pharmacology prioritized compounds (<b>6</b>), (<b>5</b>) and (<b>2</b>). Compound (<b>6</b>) showed the strongest overall potency-developability balance, although the biomimetic membrane predictions require confirmation in direct permeability, transporter, and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing Vacuum Membrane Distillation Performance via Asymmetric NACA 2412 Airfoil-Based Mixing Promoters.","authors":"Umar F Alqsair","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100313","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Even though vacuum membrane distillation (<i>VMD</i>) for low-temperature desalination is an innovative technology, industrial applications remain limited by the concentration and thermal polarization, and conventional passive spacers mitigate these issues at the cost of high hydraulic energy consumption. This article aims to reduce boundary-layer limitations using an asymmetric NACA 2412 cambered airfoil that acts as a passive mixer. The effect of the airfoil's angle of attack (<i>AoA</i>) was assessed in both upward and downward orientations, with airflow modeled at Reynolds numbers of <i>Re</i> = 1000 and 1500. The results show that the airfoil in the upward orientation was highly effective at directing airflow inducing flow separation and coherent wake structures within the boundary layer, while maintaining low form drag and a correspondingly small hydraulic penalty. The upward design at <i>AoA</i> = 12° improved the permeate flux by 14.6% compared to the zero-incidence baseline (<i>AoA</i> = 0°) at <i>Re</i> = 1500, reaching a permeate flux of 66.03 kg/m²h. This gain came at a modest hydraulic cost, with the channel pressure drop rising by only ≈10 Pa (from 13.33 to 23.52 Pa). These results indicate that the airfoil-based mixing promoter offers a favorable balance between flux enhancement and the hydraulic penalty, making it a promising passive design strategy for <i>VMD</i> channels.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamics of Multicomponent Vesicles in Narrow Channel.","authors":"Wang Xiao, Pingqia Wang, Kai Liu","doi":"10.3390/membranes16100312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16100312","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We investigate the dynamics of two-dimensional multicomponent vesicles in confined Poiseuille flow, focusing on the interplay among membrane composition, mechanical heterogeneity, and hydrodynamic confinement. The membrane composition is described by a phase-field model, while the local bending rigidity depends on the phase composition, thereby coupling phase separation to membrane deformation. Local membrane inextensibility is imposed through a Lagrange multiplier, and the coupled vesicle-fluid system is solved using a boundary integral method for matched interior and exterior viscosities. At a fixed fivefold bending-rigidity contrast, we examine the effects of the average phase composition, channel width, and initial vesicle orientation. In contrast to homogeneous vesicles, which generally relax toward symmetric bullet-like configurations near the channel centerline, multicomponent vesicles exhibit pronounced symmetry breaking and a variety of dynamical states. These include asymmetric steady shapes accompanied by membrane tank-treading, as well as confinement-dependent breathing and wagging motions. Mechanical heterogeneity also promotes localized high-curvature regions during transient deformation, with softer membrane domains preferentially occupying regions of larger curvature. These results demonstrate that composition-dependent bending rigidity can qualitatively alter vesicle dynamics in pressure-driven confined flows and highlight the importance of membrane heterogeneity in the transport and deformation of vesicle-like cells in narrow channels.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"16 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149269963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}