Chapter 9: Harnessing Janus Properties Towards Novel Membrane Applications

Recent years have seen a rapid growth in the research and applications of Janus membranes, i.e. membranes with opposing properties on each side. These novel membranes show intriguing transport and separation behaviours, outperforming conventional membranes in many processes particularly those requiring dual-phase transport. They also enable some novel membrane applications such as liquid/ion diodes and solar-thermal conversions. This chapter introduces the fundamentals of the Janus membranes, presents the fabrication techniques and elaborates on the exciting applications of such membranes with detailed mechanisms.