Recent progress in fluoropolymers for membranes

Fluoropolymers usually have high mechanical strength and excellent chemical stability and thus have been employed for the last several decades as materials for membrane separation processes, typically in water purification and energy applications such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), fuel cells, battery separators, etc. Recently, new membrane operations such as membrane distillation (MD), membrane crystallization (MCr), membrane emulsification (ME) and membrane contactors (MC) have become popular. A much stronger understanding of the basic properties of the materials utilized is required for adopting the appropriate membrane and for finding the relationship among material properties, membrane morphology and the transport phenomena in the membranes. This review presents the structures and properties of fluoropolymers for membranes, the preparation and modification methods of fluoropolymer membranes, and their applications. Recent progress in the development of novel fluoropolymers for membranes and their fabrication and modification methods are reported as well. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.