Conclusion

This work presents an innovation in the field of membrane technologies for filtration in liquid media. More specifically, the structure of the material at the heart of this technology, the membrane, has been totally redesigned to give it dynamism and interactivity with one of the operating parameters, transmembrane pressure. The membrane consists of a compact 3D assembly of ABA block copolymer micelles, linked together by copolymer bridges. The spherical micelles consist of a dense, rigid core and a compressible shell. Under pressure, the micelle shell compresses and the intermicellar space is reduced. This change in pore size is reversible up to 3 bar, and beyond that leads to a drastic change in morphology via partial micelle melting. At the material scale, these micelles interact with each other in perfect cooperation with regard to pressure changes. This global dynamism of the material...