Hydrophobic-modified polyamide nanofilms at molecular scale for rapid crude oil separation

Membrane technology for crude-oil separation requires selective differentiation of hydrocarbon molecules with rapid nonpolar solvent permeance. In a recent study published in Science by Andrew G. Livingston and coworkers, the hydrophobic-modified polyamide nanofilms at molecular level are constructed by embedding amphiphilic multiblock oligomer amines (MOAs), simultaneously achieving high-speed nonpolar solvent permeance and tight selectivity in crude-oil separation.