Mixed Matrix Membranes: Recent Advances and Perspectives

The state of the art on MMMs will be presented, with a focus to the main problems and hurdles faced today for their industriaI application: the adhesion between filler and polymer; the elimination of defects; the control and model-assisted prediction of the transport of matter in MMMs; the formation of thin and defect-free layers in supported membranes; the orientation of high aspect ratio fillers. Selected examples of potenti al applications will be given in the fields of gas separation (e.g. treatment of naturaI gas, carbon capture and storage), separation of liquid mixtures and desalination. Finally, the perspective for the development of next generation MMMs will be outlined