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Characterization of the internal morphology of thin film composite membranes used in reverse osmosis (RO) is a prerequisite for understanding the connection between microstructure and water transport properties and is necessary for the design of membranes with improved performance. Here, we examine a series of fully aromatic polyamide active layers of RO membranes that vary in crosslinking using a combination of resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Analysis of RSoXS profiles reveals a correlation between membrane structure and crosslinking density. Through a combination of scattering contrast calculations, TEM, and AFM micrographs, we assign the dominant contribution to RSoXS data as either surface roughness or chemical heterogeneity, depending on the X-ray energy used. Altogether, our results demonstrate the utility of soft X-ray scattering to examine the microstructure of water filtration membranes.

南極域での大気重力波観測実験LODEWAVEに向け、スーパープレッシャー気球の開発を進めている。体積94立方メートルのスーパープレッシャー気球、NPBO1-4を試作し、その気密性能と耐圧性能を評価した。この気球はポリエチレン皮膜に衛張力繊維の網をかぶせることで耐圧性能を向上させ、内部にゴム気球を入れて皮膜を二重にすることで気密性能を強化した気球である。耐圧性能は3,400Pa、気密性能は289時間にわたり正圧を保持する能力があることがわかった。これは、3kgのペイロードを搭載して、85hPaの気圧高度を289時間に渡って飛翔可能であることを示しており、開発の目処がたった。LODEWAVEで利用できる気球とするには、要求される60hPaの気圧高度を飛翔させるためにもうひとまわりの気球の巨大化、気球の展開の確実性、289時間を越える耐久性、といった改良を加える必要があることも判明した。また、気球圧力の計測方法、気球の放球方法、気球の破壊方法の確立といった飛翔運用時に必要な技術の開発も必要である。今後、これらの開発を実施し、LODEWAVEで利用できる気球の開発を進める。, Development of super-pressure balloons for the LODEWAVE is started. A 94 m3 super-pressure balloon NPB01-4 was developed for the first trial production and tested its capability in the pressure resistance and the gas permeability. This balloon is based on the technologies covering the polyethylene balloon with high-tensile net for the pressure resistance and setting a rubber balloon inside the polyethylene balloon for the gas permeability. For the ground inflation test, the balloon withstood the differential pressure of 3,400 Pa and kept positive differential pressure for 289 hours. These capability shows that the balloon can fly at the atmospheric pressure of 85 hPa for 289 hours with a payload of 3 kg. These results gave us the clear prospect for the development of the super-pressure balloon for the LODEWAVE. Following technical subjects to be solved were also found : 1. Development of slightly larger balloon to fly at the altitude of 60 hPa to meet the requirement from the mission, 2. Stable deployment, 3. Durability beyond 289 hours. In addition, for the flight operation, developments of the technique to measure the inner pressure, the launching procedure, and the termination device are necessary. We are going to solve these problems for the LODEWAVE., 形態: カラー図版あり, Physical characteristics: Original contains color illustrations, 資料番号: AA2030024003, レポート番号: JAXA-RR-20-009

Biological membrane, the most fluidic structure of a cell or an organelle, refrains the cells to progress toward apoptosis by sustaining their optimum environment. This bilayer-membrane equips all machineries required for cellular communication, limits the entry of foreign bodies, selectively transports molecules or ions depending on the need of the system but, it also acts as a first line defense against environmental insults. Due to the presence of a vast number of poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), the biological membrane is highly prone to oxidative stress and as a consequence, acceleration in lipid peroxidation by free radicals, becomes a threat to cellular viability. Alterations in the biophysical state of bilayer caused by oxidative stress frequently occur in the in vivo as well as in vitro conditions. It has been well documented that the molecule, melatonin, exhibits profound coherence in neutralizing oxidative stress and thus, to normalize fluidity status of biological membranes. Aging associated decline in melatonin level with subsequent ascended lipid peroxidation and membrane viscosity found in almost all organisms further suggest the importance of melatonin in this context. Since disruption of membrane structure or even some modifications will cause a spectrum of diseases, keeping membrane intactness would be an adequate strategy to prevent these diseases. Considering the high permeability, safe and potent antioxidant capacity of melatonin, this molecule can be a superlative choice to alleviate membrane bilayer rigidity and its related ailments.

There is ample evidence that both native functions and pathogenic aggregation of α-synuclein are intimately dependent on lipid interactions and fatty acid type; the regulatory mechanism however remains unclear. In the present work, using extensive atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and enhanced-sampling, we have focused on exploring the mechanism of fatty acid dependent regulation of monomeric α-Syn100 in a native synaptic vesicle-like membrane. Our results show that α-Syn100 spontaneously binds to the membrane through its N-terminal region (residues 1-34), where the depth of membrane insertion, the structure, and orientation of the membrane-bound α-Syn100 and its impact on membrane structure are modulated by docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA is a polyunsaturated fatty acid abundantly found in the brain and known to promote the oligomerization of α-synuclein. We found that DHA exhibits marked propensity to interact with monomeric α-Syn100 and modulates the microenvironment of the protein by preferentially sorting DHA-containing phospholipids, depleting other phospholipids and cholesterol as well as increasing the proportion of anionic to neutral lipids in the immediate vicinity of the protein. Owing to the unique conformational flexibility, DHA chains form more lipid-packing defects in the membrane and efficiently coat the membrane-embedded surface of the protein, compared to the saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. DHA thus makes the bilayer more amiable to protein adsorption and less prone to α-synuclein-induced perturbation associated with cytotoxicity. Indeed, in the absence of DHA, we observed significant thinning of the local bilayer membrane induced by α-Syn100. Though α-Syn100 is predominantly α-helical in membranes studied here, in the presence of DHA we observe formation of β-sheet/β-strands in the C-terminal region (residues 35-100) of α-Syn100, which is extended out from the membrane surface. Notably, DHA induces β structure in the NAC domain of α-Syn100 and promotes extended conformations as well as large solvent exposure of this hydrophobic domain, properties that are known to facilitate self-assembly of α-synuclein. To the best of our knowledge, this study for the first time provides the atomistic insights into DHA-induced regulatory mechanism of monomeric α-synuclein, having implications in protein structure and its physiological/pathological functions.

Membrane phospholipid metabolism forms lysophospholipids, which possess unique biochemical and biophysical properties that influence membrane structure and dynamics. However, lysophospholipids also function as ligands for G-protein–coupled receptors that influence embryonic development, postnatal physiology, and disease. The 2 most well-studied species—lysophosphatidic acid and S1P (sphingosine 1-phosphate)—are particularly relevant to vascular development, physiology, and cardiovascular diseases. This review summarizes the role of lysophosphatidic acid and S1P in vascular developmental processes, endothelial cell biology, and their roles in cardiovascular disease processes. In addition, we also point out the apparent connections between lysophospholipid biology and the Wnt (int/wingless family) pathway, an evolutionarily conserved fundamental developmental signaling system. The discovery that components of the lysophospholipid signaling system are key genetic determinants of cardiovascular disease has warranted current and future research in this field. As pharmacological approaches to modulate lysophospholipid signaling have entered the clinical sphere, new findings in this field promise to influence novel therapeutic strategies in cardiovascular diseases.

Oxidative stress can damage organs, tissues, and cells through reactive oxygen species (ROS) by oxidizing DNA, proteins, and lipids, thereby resulting in diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, employing scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), we explored the early responses of human embryonic kidney (HEK293H) cells to oxidative DNA damage induced by potassium chromate (K(2)CrO(4)). We found that the short term (1−2 h) exposure to a low concentration (10 μM) of K(2)CrO(4) damaged the lipid membrane of HEK293H cells, resulting in structural defects and depolarization of the cell membrane and reducing cellular secretion activity shortly after the treatment. We further demonstrated that the K(2)CrO(4) treatment decreased the expression of the cytoskeleton protein, β-actin, by inducing oxidative DNA damage in the exon 4 of the β-actin gene. These results suggest that K(2)CrO(4) caused oxidative DNA damage in cytoskeleton genes such as β-actin and reduced their expression, thereby disrupting the organization of the cytoskeleton beneath the cell membrane and inducing cell membrane damages. Our study provides direct evidence that oxidative DNA damage disrupted human cell membrane integrity by deregulating cytoskeleton gene expression.

We report on the fabrication of the defect-free mixed-matrix membrane (MMM) based on the polyethylenimine (PEI) matrix with uniformly dispersed metal-organic framework (MOF) filler UiO-66-NH2, covalently bonded by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The key feature of the molecular level-controlled filler deposition in prepared UiO-66-NH2-PVP-PEI membranes was bridging the MOF particles to the PEI polymer matrix via PVP polymer chains. Such an approach improved the polymer-filler interface interactions and boosted the MOF dispersion into the polymer matrix for higher MOF loadings up to 23 wt %. The overall membrane structure and properties were characterized using FTIR, XRD, TG, DSC, SEM and 3D optical profiler techniques. Obtained results revealed the uniform dispersion of UiO-66-NH2, the strong polymer-filler interface interactions and entanglement of PEI with UiO-66-NH2-PVP. Furthermore, the outstanding CO2/H2 separation performance was determined for the UiO-66-NH2-PVP-PEI membrane with 18 wt % of MOF loading; the average CO2 permeability of 394 Barrer and the separation factor of 12 for circa 100 h of the membrane testing overcome the 2008 Robeson reverse upper bound limit. Such improved CO2/H2 separation performance was achieved due to the combination of the diffusion-solution mechanism with the preferential adsorption of the CO2 via the reversible bicarbonate reaction with amino groups of the UiO-66-NH2 and PEI which acts as fixed CO2 carrier sites in MMM structure.

Polysulfone is among the polymers known for excellent electrical resistivity, elongation capacity, transparency and thermal resistance. Polysulfone is being used in battery caps, oil pumps, oil control pistons, transmission parts, water treatment, etc. The focus of the presented work is to control the porosity level of polysulfone membranes through plasma treatment for water treatment application. Polysulfone membrane was fabricated using phase inversion method and treated with microwave plasma of oxygen under fixed plasma conditions. The membrane samples were plasma treated for 15 s to 30 s and analyzed for surface morphology, pore size distribution and functional groups. Presence of benzene rings, sulfonic groups and phenols groups in the samples were observed in a range of 855–1000 cm−1, 1290–1360 cm−1 and 3250–3420 cm−1, respectively. The blank sample had wider pore size distribution (3–18 µm) while plasma treated samples exhibited narrow pore size distribution. The pore size distribution after 15 s and 30 s of treatment ranged from 3 to 9 µm and 3 to 5 µm, respectively. Conclusively, uniform pore size distribution was possible after 30 s of plasma treatment.

This paper proposes a method to derive the upper-bound vibration spectrum of a membrane structure from a few selected point measurements. The upper-bound spectrum exceeds the measured spectra by a ...

The implementation of the pore-forming agent in the polymeric membrane has been applied for ages in enhancing the characteristics and performance of mixed matrix membrane. In this work, chlorophyll extracted from spinach has been used as an additional pore-forming agent alongside polyethylene glycol (PEG) to improve the polysulfone's pore structure (PSf) mixed matrix membrane. The effect of chlorophyll was investigated in terms of characteristics and performance of the mixed matrix membrane. As a result, the cross-section morphologies show that the pore structure was enhanced significantly inside the membrane structure for 0.25 wt% chlorophyll concentration, thus resulted in better hydrophilicity, surface roughness, and membrane porosity value. Plus, the permeation and rejection performance was increased drastically due to the pore formation inside the mixed matrix membrane structure. These results prove that the addition of chlorophyll with low concentration managed to improve the characteristics and performance of the fabricated mixed matrix membrane.

The non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method is often used to fabricate porous polymer membranes that have a wide variety of applications in the fields of purification and energy materials. Such applications typically require membranes with a well-controlled pore structure across multiple levels of structural hierarchy. However, with the NIPS method, the membrane porosity is typically restricted to a single structural level due to the use of just one type of templating agent, commonly a polymer amphiphile. To overcome this limitation, here we report a new dual-template approach to embed multilevel porosity into poly(ethersulfone) membranes. In this approach, the polymer amphiphile Pluronic® F127 (F127) is used to template the higher level structure (10 μm scale), while a secondary molecular template, 4-(phenyl)azobenzoic acid (PABA), is simultaneously introduced to enable structural control at the 1 μm level. Analysis of the membrane structure by scanning electron microscopy revealed that F127 creates larger finger-like pores, while PABA introduced a more fibrous, interconnected porous sub-structure. Contact angle measurements showed that the PABA additive increases the hydrophilicity of the resultant membranes, while dead-end permeability measurements demonstrated that the hierarchical pore structure results in a 95% increase in permeability compared to a single level pore structure. Solvent extraction studies revealed that quantitative removal of the PABA template could be achieved, without any modification to the secondary level pore structure. This process offered the benefit of removing flakes of crystallized PABA from the larger, finger-like pores, leading to a further 300% increase in permeability. Given the simplicity and versatility of the NIPS method, this dual-template approach presents an efficient route to hierarchically structured, porous polymer membranes whose properties may be tailored for a targeted application.

Porous nanocrystalline silicon (pnc-Si) membrane is mainly studied as a blood filtration membrane, mimicking the glomerulus filtration membrane of a human kidney. However, the pnc-Si material itself is not hemocompatible and enormous membrane area to thickness ratio makes the membrane to be easily fractured. Silicon surface modification via titanium-oxide (Ti-O) thin film layer deposition has been proven to be hemocompatible and the presence of Ti-O layer has been numerically studied to give higher membrane flexural strength. In this work, square pnc-Si membranes of 2 mm × 2 mm × 20 nm size have been fabricated with and without Ti-O layer. Point loading-unloading nanoindentation method has been performed and the membranes’ displacement behaviour subjected to point loads is studied. The pnc-Si membranes with Ti-O layer were found to attain higher fracture strength, membrane bending stiffness and average hardness with the increase of ~20, ~11 and ~24%, respectively, compared to bare pnc-Si membranes. The mechanical strength of a free-standing pnc-Si membrane is improved by depositing a Ti-O thin film layer on the membrane structure.

The ultrashort linear antimicrobial tetrapeptide BRBR-NH2 with an unnatural residue biphenylalanine (B) has potent and rapid antimethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) activity but lacks hemolytic activity. The anti-MRSA activity of BRBR-NH2 is 8-fold more potent than that of WRWR-NH2 and 16-fold more potent than that of FRFR-NH2. However, how to influence their antimicrobial activities and mechanisms through the substitution of different aromatic hydrophobic residues is still unclear. In this work, to study the effects of varying hydrophobic interactions and membrane selectivities of BRBR-NH2, we performed multiple long-time (1000 ns) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the interactions of a red blood cell (RBC) membrane and a Gram-positive bacterial cell membrane with three different tetrapeptides (BRBR-NH2, WRWR-NH2, and FRFR-NH2) under different ratios of peptides and lipids and also explored the changes in the membrane and structural characteristics of peptides. The binding energy results show that BRBR-NH2 interacts weakly with the RBC membrane, while not all BRBR-NH2 can be adsorbed to the RBC membrane surface. The MD simulation results produced significant local membrane thinning of multiBRBR-NH2 peptides in the Gram-positive bacterial cell membrane. An in-depth analysis of structural features and peptide-membrane interactions suggests that the aggregation of BRBR-NH2 on the membrane surface plays a crucial role in the destruction of the cell membrane. Taken together with the observed local membrane thinning, the in-depth analysis demonstrated that the interactions between the lipid bilayer and the BRBR-NH2 aggregation surface result in a local disturbance of the membrane structure. It can be concluded that the high anti-MRSA activity of BRBR-NH2 is attributed to the aggregation of BRBR-NH2 on the membrane surface. On the other hand, WRWR-NH2 and FRFR-NH2 peptides tend to bind with the membrane surface in a monomeric form and cover the membrane surface in a carpet-like manner. Therefore, these results provide an advanced microscopic understanding of how hydrophobic interactions or hydrophobic residues affect the antimicrobial activity and mechanism of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs).

Porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene (PVDF-HFP) hollow fiber membranes were fabricated through a wet spinning process. In order to improve the membrane structure, composition of the polymer solution was adjusted by studying ternary phase diagrams of polymer/solvent/non-solvent. The prepared membranes were used for sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD) of 20 wt% ethylene glycol (EG) aqueous solution. The membranes were characterized by different tests such as N2 permeation, overall porosity, critical water entry pressure (CEPw), water contact angle and collapsing pressure. From FESEM examination, addition of 3 wt% glycerol in the PVDF-HFP solution, produced membranes with smaller finger-likes cavities, higher surface porosity and smaller pore sizes. Increasing the polymer concentration up to 21 wt% resulted in a dense spongy structure which could significantly reduce the N2 permeance. The membrane prepared by 3 wt% glycerol and 17 wt% polymer demonstrated an improved structure with mean pore size of 18 nm and a high surface porosity of 872 m−1. CEPw of 350 kPa and overall porosity of 84% were also obtained for the improved membrane. Collapsing pressure of the membranes relatively improved by increasing the polymer concentration. From the SGMD test, the developed membrane represented a maximum permeate flux of 28 kg·m−2·h−1 which is almost 19% higher than the flux of plain membrane. During 120 h of a long-term SGMD operation, a gradual flux reduction of 30% was noticed. In addition, EG rejection reduced from 100% to around 99.5% during 120 h of the operation.

The stability of graphene oxide (G-O) membranes in water can be enhanced via the simple addition of metal-cations to the planar laminate structure, however, the relationship between valency and hydration radius and the properties and performance of the membrane structure is unclear. This study examines the impacts of adsorbed monovalent (K+ and Na+), divalent (Cu2+ and Mn2+) and trivalent (Al3+, Fe3+ and La3+) cations on permeation for G-O membranes in water vapor permeation and pervaporation. Metal-cations with high electronegativity and a small hydration radius possess greater binding strength that constrains the G-O laminate channels (d-spacing). Both water permeation methods show a positive trend between permeation and interlayer spacing for metal-cations with the same valency. Amongst the different valence states, steric exclusion from cations is dominant for minimal water layers (water vapor permeation), while the ability for cations to attract and hold water molecules inside its outer shell has a greater effect on swollen channels (pervaporation). These findings help pave the road towards G-O based applications in next generation water filtration methods for desalination and wastewater treatment.

A simple iterative method is presented for cutting pattern optimization of frame-supported and pneumatic membrane structures for minimizing the variation of stresses from the target values. The plane cutting sheet is generated by minimizing the error from the shape obtained by reducing the target stress from the desired curved shape of surface. The equilibrium shape is obtained using an energy approach to minimize of total strain energy under forced deformation at the boundary nodes. The external work done by the pressure is also incorporated for analysis of pneumatic membrane structures. An approximate method is also proposed to derive a discretized form for analysis of an ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) film, where elasto-plastic behavior under monotonic loading condition is modeled as a nonlinear elastic material under monotonic loading condition. The proposed method is applied to examples of a frame-supported polyvinyl chloride membrane structure and an air pressured square ETFE film.

In order to improve the water permeability of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with low molecular weight cut-off (MWCO), polydopamine (PDA) was employed in the membrane preparation process. Owing to its merits of material-independent adhesion, PDA was coated on inorganic particles or added in coagulation bath to tailor the final membrane structure and property. The introduction of PDA broke through the permeability/selectivity trade-off of the PVDF membrane. By adding the PDA coated titanium dioxide (PDA/TiO2) nanoparticles, water flux increased by 287% while MWCO kept similar with the pristine PVDF membrane. Thermodynamics and Kinetics of the PVDF/additives/non-solvent were analyzed and shown that nanoparticles reduced the thermodynamic stability and increased the phase separation speed, and the speed can be adjusted using different nanoparticles. Additionally, X-ray diffraction (XRD) test indicated that PVDF crystalline form changed from α phase to β phase after adding different nanoparticles. Permeability/selectivity trade-off was broken through by DA addition in coagulation bath. Compared with the original PVDF membrane, when the DA concentration of the coagulation bath was 2.0 g·L−1, water flux increased by 312%, and MWCO of the PVDF membrane ranged in 10,000 to 20,000 Da as well as contact angle decreased from 81.4° to 45°.

One-pot synthesis of novel hydrogel-based anion exchange membranes (AEMs), with only a single-phase monomer mixture, was used to eliminate surface heterogeneity and generate reproducible electroconvective microvortices in the over-limiting region of the current-voltage characteristic (CVC) curves. Diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DDA) was used as the main component to provide the cation charge groups, and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and ethylene glycol dimethyl acrylate (EGDMA) were used as the auxiliary structure monomers. The uniform membrane structure allowed reproducible and sensitive DNA detection and quantification, as probe-target surface complexes can gate the ion flux and produce large voltage shifts in the over-limiting region. Suppressed membrane curvature due to controlled swelling is a crucial part to avoid the reduction of depletion region for maintaining the influence of target gene hybridization. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy verified the synthesized membrane structure, with a residual vinyl group that allows easy carboxylation via additional photografting reaction. Consequently, a significantly higher DNA probe functionalization efficiency is obtained on the homogeneous AEMs, evidenced by the increasing nitrogen element content and bonding via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The DDA content was optimized to provide a sufficient coulomb force between AEM and nucleic acid backbone to promote the specific binding efficiency but without high dimensional swelling which might change the surface geometry and restrict the voltage shifting for sensing in the over-limiting region, and the optimal DDA/HEMA ratio was found to be 4/10. The synthesized AEM sensor for recombinant 35S promoter sequence identification exhibited a reproducible calibration standard curve with dynamic range between 30 fM and 1 μM and high selectivity with only 0.01 V shift for 1 μM nontarget oligo.

Background: Gangliosides are an essential component of eukaryotic plasma membranes implicated in multiple physiological processes. Little is known about molecular mechanisms underlying the distribution and functions of membrane gangliosides. The overwhelmingly complex organization of glycocalyx impedes the structural analysis on cell surface and the interplay between the lipid components. Advanced X-ray analytical tools applicable to studying biological interfaces call for the simplistic models that mimic ganglioside-enriched cellular membranes. Objective: To summarize the mechanistic evidences of ganglioside interactions with lipid environment and biologically active ligands using high-resolution synchrotron X-ray scattering. Methods: A comprehensive review of studies published over the last decade was done to discuss recent accomplishments and future trends. Results: Langmuir monolayers represent an adequate model system to assess the effect of gangliosides on membrane structure. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction reveals a condensation effect by gangliosides on zwitterionic phospholipids with the cooperative packing of sialo- and phosphate groups. In turn, the arrangement of negatively charged lipids in ganglioside mixture remains unchanged due to the stretched conformation of carbohydrate moieties. Upon interaction with biological ligands, such as cholera toxin and galectins, the ganglioside redistribution within the ordered regions of monolayer follows distinct mechanistic patterns. The cholera toxin pentamer attached to the oligosaccharide core induces local transition from oblique to the hexagonal lattice resulting in phase coexistence. The incorporation of the A subunit responsible for endocytosis is further promoted by the acidic environment characteristic for endosomal space. X-ray reflectivity shows in-plane orientation of galectin dimers with the spatial mismatch between the lectin binding sites and ganglioside carbohydrates to perturb ceramide alkyl chains. Recent data also demonstrate sialic acid groups to be potential targets for novel peptide mimicking anticancer therapeutics. Conclusion: Coupled with surface X-ray scattering, the membrane mimetic approach allows for better understanding the biological role of gangliosides and their potential applications.

The development of flexible supercapacitors is highly desired for electrode materials with good flexibility and a high specific surface area. The electrospun carbon fiber membranes (CFMs) have the possibility of being used as flexible electrodes due to their one-dimensional fiber structure. The pristine CFMs generally have poor porosity, and the activation process is of the essence. However, the conventional blending activation process will produce an uneven pore distribution and destroy the fiber membrane structure, which is not conducive to maintaining the flexibility of CFMs and hindering the application in flexible supercapacitors. Herein, by treating the electrospun CFMs with KOH impregnation activation process, we have succeeded in making the activation of CFMs more uniform and avoiding the occurrence of local over-activation. On the premise of ensuring that the fiber structure of CFMs is not damaged, the specific surface area of activated CFMs (ACFMs) was increased to 2408 m2 g−1, and the mechanical flexibility of CFMs was well maintained. As a result, the optimal ACFMs delivers a specific capacitance of 289.2 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1 in aqueous electrolyte and an energy density of 14.8 Wh kg−1 in neutral electrolyte. In addition, the flexible solid-state symmetric supercapacitor also shows excellent electrochemical performance, making it have great potential in energy storage applications for wearable, foldable, and portable electronic devices.

We have prepared the anode cell of an X-ray lithograph in the form of a PolySi/Si3N4/SiO2 membrane structure using group technology. The design of the stand for determining mechanical properties of membranes has been modernized. The critical pressure of a membrane structure with a diameter 250 μm varies in the range from 0.484 to 0.56 MPa for 15 samples. The mechanical strength of the PolySi*/Si3N4/SiO2 structure is 3.13 GPa. The new model in the Comsol package shows good correlation between the experimental critical pressure and the theoretical mechanical strength of the membrane. The distribution of mechanical stresses over the membrane has been obtained by simulation and analytic calculation. It is proved that the structure breaking region is localized at the membrane/substrate interface.

The effect of the addition of triblock copolymer polyethylene glycol (PEG)–polypropylene glycol (PPG)–polyethylene glycol (PEG) (Pluronic F127) and polyethylene glycol (PEG-4000, Mn = 4000 g mol−1) to the polysulfone (PSF) casting solution on the membrane structure and performance was studied. The phase state, viscosity and turbidity of PSF solutions in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) with the addition of block copolymer Pluronic F127 were investigated. It was found that 18–22 wt.% PSF solutions in DMAc with Pluronic F127 content ≥ 5 wt.% feature a lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Membrane structure was investigated using scanning electron and atomic force microcopies. It was revealed that average pore size and pore amount on the surface of the membrane selective layer increase and pore size distribution becomes wider with an increase in Pluronic F127 content in the casting solution. It was found that the average surface roughness parameters of the membrane selective layer for PSF/Pluronic F127 membranes significantly exceed those for PSF/PEG-4000 membranes. It was shown that the increase in the membrane flux and the decrease in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K-30, Mn = 40,000 g mol−1) rejection are a result of the addition of both Pluronic F127 and PEG-4000 into the casting solution. It was revealed that PSF/Pluronic F127 membranes are characterized by higher pressure resistance in ultrafiltration process, a lower total flux decrease during ultrafiltration of bovine serum albumin solutions. The antifouling performance of PSF/Pluronic F127 membranes was found to exceed significantly the antifouling performance of PSF/PEG-4000 membranes.