Abstract

Pressure-driven membrane methods are a well-stablished technology using porous membranes and pressure to produce the separation of substances from water or gaseous effluents. In these methods, membrane is a passive component acting as separating barrier of substances contained in a transporting medium (fluid); thus, a membrane separation process is characterized by the transport of matter through the membrane phase. However, the use of membranes as an active component of the separation process leads to the generation of a wide range of new and innovative systems based on porous nanocomposite polymeric materials with multiple applications, such as: surface sensing for monitoring of pollutant and low-pressure systems (air, water, blood, etc.), removal of heavy metals, pharmaceutical products and sub-products (emerging pollutants), among other. Though for "passive" porous membranes the mechanistic description of separation is based on the transport through the membrane, by size-exclusion or dissolution-diffusion mechanisms, for “active” membranes, the bulk properties, superficial phenomena and nanoconfinement of the matter are influenced by the nanometric component constituting the membrane material, which not only affects the macroscopic properties of them, since the responses of this material to superficial changes inherent in the separation process can also undergo changes. Here, a comprehensive description of compositional and structural factors associated with the properties of functional polymer nanocomposite membranes as well as, to offer a wide vision of their applications and potentialities.