Functional Polymeric Membrane Materials: A Perspective from Versatile Methods and Modification to Potential Applications

The field of membrane science and technology has been one of the most trending research topics in the last few decades, owing to the large number of membrane-based applications and the expected contribution of membrane technology in areas such as water security, environmental well-being, and energy storage. Due to extensive research, membrane preparation techniques are divided into a wide range of classifications, largely depending on the materials involved, the preparation techniques, and the implemented applications. Most effective and high-performing membranes are modified or fabricated from polymeric-based materials with polymer backbone structures. Therefore, the structure and effectiveness of the polymeric materials depend on the preparation method, which influences the final polymer features. Several polymeric membrane materials may need to be chemically modified by using polymerization techniques. Thus, we noticed a clear gap in documenting the commonly used polymerization methods that yield high-performance polymeric membranes for several applications. By correlating between the preparation/modification technique and application aspects, this review article uniquely covers the membrane material preparation through polymerization methods, starting from the traditional polymerization methods up to the nontraditional living free-radical polymerization methods such as RAFT, ATRP, etc. The review also discusses other classes of polymerization, such as interfacial polymerization and click chemistry reactions. Highlighting core issues such as polymerization techniques is important in order to further understand the membrane's related polymerization chemistry, linking between the polymeric modifier preparation techniques and their influence on performance aspects. Moreover, the review also aims to provide a solid understanding of membrane preparation chemistry in order to push membrane technology further and overcome some of the milestone problems in this field.