Porous Polymer Membranes by Hard Templating - A Review

Membranes are designed to bridge a precise separation process at the nanoscale with industrial applications running at cubic meters per hour. This review outlines materials applied in membrane production with a particular focus on polymers. Membrane performance and created value are directly linked to controlled pore formation. Their economic relevance has created a number of large companies and associated academic research at top institutions. The authors review, therefore, starts from well-established techniques applied in products and then moves on to evolving concepts from academia. Pore formation through hard templating is a versatile field for separation processes. A more detailed view is given on the two known concepts for nanopore formation, namely colloidal templates and random hard salt templating. A comparison between these two concepts underlines their relevance to combine a process specific separation with large scale manufacturing requirements (i.e., upscale possibility, flexible process control and environmental impact).