Recent Advances in Ion Exchange Membranes for Desalination Applications

Ion exchange membranes (IEMs) have gained enormous attention over the past several decades because of their versatile applications in many important areas including energy and alternative clean energy, potable water production, wastewater treatment, food industry, and chemical industry. Therefore, a solid understanding of IEMs in both material synthesis and principle theories of transport phenomena is of crucial importance for the rational development of the desired IEMs for various applications. In this chapter, a comprehensive overview of IEMs covering the fundamentals, as well as the recent development of IEMs and their applications is provided. Although the main focus will be on IEMs for desalination application by electrodriven processes, the general concepts for developing IEMs suitable for different applications are also briefly summarized. The outline of this chapter is as follows: 1) the fundamentals of IEMs and their transport phenomena 2) the material development 3) the future perspective of IEMs.