Gyorgy Szekely

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology | KAUST · Advanced Membranes & Porous Materials Center

Plasticization is a major source of performance reduction in polymeric membranes, where uptake of specific vapour or liquid compounds affects either the space between macromolecular chains and thus free volume or directly initiates the partial depolymerization of the polymeric materials. During membrane separations, solutes or major feed components...

Oil spills present significant environmental hazards that threaten the marine ecosystem and human life. To rapidly clean up oil spills and prevent ecological disasters, various oil sorbents have been developed. Here, highly effective hydrophobic nanofibrous sorbents were developed through the electrospinning of four different 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopro...

The structural and morphological properties of fullerenols upon exposure to heat treatment have yet to be understood. Herein, we investigated the temperature‐driven structural and morphological evolutions of fullerenols C60(OH) and C70(OH). In situ spectroscopic techniques, such as variable‐temperature X‐ray diffraction (VTXRD) and coupled thermogr...

Biomass-based thin film composites (TFCs) fabricated only from abundant natural resources are emerging as next-generation organic solvent nanofiltration membranes. However, most of the existing membrane fabrication processes still use toxic chemicals, harsh solvents, and fossil-based supports. We report a plant-based, green TFC membrane based solel...

Climate change and other environmental problems necessitate the use of renewable resources and the development of sustainable technologies. Thus, giant cane, which is naturally abundant, and a plant-based binder extracted from Millettia pinnata seeds were used to fabricate carbon-based composite membranes. A continuous and uniform layer of a carbon...

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is a low-energy alternative for continuous separations in the chemical industry. As the pharmaceutical sector increasingly turns toward continuous manufacturing, OSN could become a sustainable solution for chiral separations. Here we present the first comprehensive theoretical assessment of enantioselective OSN...

The pharmaceutical industry is gradually shifting toward a green and sustainable future. Separation technologies during downstream processing contribute greatly to the waste generation of pharmaceutical manufacturing that needs to be mitigated. This chapter focuses on the sustainability of liquid–liquid separation methodologies from chromatography...

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membranes require robust selective layers and support materials. In this study, polyamide and polyester thin-film composites (TFCs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) were fabricated as selective layers on a polyimide aerogel support. The ultrapermeable support was stable in various organic solvents includin...

Two-dimensional conjugated microporous polymer (CMP) membranes have gained increasing attention in the nanofiltration field owing to their tunable pore structure and solvent stability. Nevertheless, fabricating freestanding thin films with accessible porosity is challenging. In this study, we fabricated four freestanding CMP membranes based on the...

Organic solvent nanofiltration is an energy-efficient separation process for solutes and solvents. Robust membranes that show stability in harsh environments are highly desirable. In this study, we developed free-standing integrally skinned asymmetric carbon molecular sieve membranes that synergize the advantages of stable carbon materials and poro...

Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is a promising technique to achieve desalination of low-salinity water resources. The primary requirements for developing and designing materials for MCDI applications are large surface area, high wettability to water, high conductivity, and efficient ion-transport pathways. Herein, we synthesized ionic coval...

Native lignocellulose can be used to create light-driven molecular motors via a “green” synthetic approach. In the May issue of Green Chemistry, Barta, Feringa, and co-workers provided new insights into the sustainable design of molecular motors through reductive catalytic fractionation using a lignocellulose platform.

Green thin-film composite (TFC) membranes can offer a sustainable solution for the separation of complex mixtures in aqueous and organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). However, the fabrication of TFC membranes has relied on toxic petrochemical-based monomers, solvents, and supports. Herein, we developed a green TFC membrane using solely sustainable...

High-performance polymer membranes have attracted attention as excellent candidates for the fabrication of separation materials owing to their high versatility and ease of processability. Membranes can be prepared from polymers through solvent evaporation, phase inversion, coating, or interfacial polymerization. Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN)...

The use of disposable face masks has considerably contributed toward waste generation, particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Little attention has been dedicated to the actual examination of recycling strategies for increasing the life cycle of this biomedical waste, as the most common treatment for disposing used masks is incineration....

Membrane technologies have emerged as a promising alternative to energy-intensive separation processes in various industrial sectors. To address the sustainability challenge associated with the fabrication of separation membranes, a paradigm shift from the use of petrochemical-based raw materials to greener biobased sources is highly desired. In th...

Microalgal cultivation in photobioreactors and membrane separations are both considered sustainable processes. Here we explore their synergistic combination to extract and concentrate a heterologous sesquiterpenoid produced by engineered green algal cells. A hydrophobic hollow-fiber membrane contactor was used to allow interaction of culture broth...

Microalga cultivation in photobioreactors and membrane separations are both considered sustainable processes. Here we explore their synergistic combination to extract and concentrate a heterologous sesquiterpenoid produced by engineered green algal cells. A hydrophobic hollow-fiber membrane contactor was used to allow interaction of culture broth a...

Solvent resistance is a crucial property for achieving organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membranes with good separation performance and long lifespan. Polybenzimidazole (PBI) has been widely used for OSN membrane fabrication owing to its excellent mechanical properties, thermal stability, and resistance in various organic solvents. However, pris...

Membrane technology has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. The rapid growth of membrane technology has been breeding an unavoidable yet critical challenge─the unsustainable disposal of used membranes. Commercial polymer membranes are fabricated from fossil-based monomers and polymers that are not biodegradable. Hence, there is an urge...

Covalent organic polymers (COPs) are prepared via the non-uniform covalent assembly of organic building blocks, endowing their structures with permanent pores, thereby rendering them suitable for diverse applications. The use of COPs in the fabrication of composite membranes can enhance their permeability, selectivity, and chemical stability. Howev...

Membrane capacitive deionization has been explored as an alternative desalination technique which can lower the voltage requirement and the ability to regenerate the electrodes. Traditional materials used in electrode processing can lead to various environmental problems related to toxicity, biodegradability and depletion of natural resources. Here...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as a new class of crystalline porous materials with distinct structural features, such as uniform pore distribution, tunable architecture, and modifiable skeletons. COFs hold significant promise for application in gas separation because of their high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area and narrow pore...

Herein, we report a new class of biosourced nanofiltration membranes based on chemically recyclable aliphatic polyesters (P(4,5-T6GBL)) and the use of green solvents. Given their chemical recyclability and potential biodegradability, these polyester membranes were designed to have a sustainable lifecycle. The effect of membrane thickness and solven...

Methods for determining solute rejection in organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) are time-consuming and expensive and still rely on wet-lab measurements, resulting in the slow development of membrane processes. OSN, similar to other membrane technologies, requires precise and comprehensive predictive models that can function on various solutes, mem...

The demand for advanced water treatment technologies is continuously increasing due to clean water scarcity, strict environmental regulations, growing population, and increasing discharges of industrial wastewater. Polymer-based nanofiltration (NF) membranes are of particular interest due to their low cost and high removal efficiency for multivalen...

Polymer membrane fabrication uses mostly non-renewable solvents and materials. Polyolefins are often chosen as inert membrane materials, stable in many solvents and manufactured and used on multimillion-metric-ton scale. However, their...

To address the increasing interest in environmental issues, green and sustainable material-based membranes have attracted significant research interest with the promise to replace fossil-based membranes and to reduce waste generation. In this work, more sustainable thin-film composite (TFC) membranes are designed and fabricated via interfacial poly...

Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a high-performance polymer that exhibits high thermal and chemical stability. However, it suffers from low porosity and low fractional free volume, which hinder its application as separation material. Herein, we demonstrate the molecular engineering of gas separation materials by manipulating a PBI backbone possessing kin...

Composite nanofiltration membranes offer advantages because of synergetic effects among the constituent materials’ properties. However, the sustainability of both the membrane fabrication and the raw materials has been a drawback of this energy-efficient separation technology. We report the facile fabrication of a nanocomposite membrane composed of...

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have attracted considerable interest owing to their structural predesign ability, con-trollable chemistry, long-range periodicity, and pore interior functionalization ability. The most widely adopted sol-vothermal synthesis of COFs requires the use of toxic organic solvents. In line with the 5th principle of green...

Special Section: Frontiers In Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices Based on 2D Materials

Membrane technology is a dynamically developing field of separation science that is poised to result in new and efficient processes, energy and cost savings, and sustainability benefits. A key challenge in this field is the development of highly selective membranes, which can be addressed by the development of mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) containi...

Polyamide (PA) is highly effective as a selective layer in case of nanofiltration (NF) membranes, mainly for filtering water and other polar solvents. The incorporation of fluorinated monomers in a polyamide network is a novel strategy for obtaining membranes with enhanced permeability in case of nonpolar solvents. In this study, PA thin-film compo...

Here, we report the fabrication of nanofibrous air-filtration membranes of intrinsically microporous polyimide with metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). The membranes successfully captured VOCs from air. Two polyimides with surface areas up to 500 m² g⁻¹ were synthesized, and the impact of the porosity on the sorption kinetics and capacity of the nanof...

Niche membrane technologies, such as organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN), offer considerable energy and operation cost reduction compared with conventional separation methods. However, despite their many advantages, their industrial implementation is hindered by small and specialized datasets, which hinders the development of more advanced predict...

Crosslinking of polymeric membranes induces changes in both membrane stability and separation performance. Numerous membrane-crosslinking methods have been developed with the objective of obtaining improved membranes. However, none of these methods systemically investigated the stereochemical effects of the crosslinker in the pursuit of better stab...

Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). Although cesium lead halide perovskite (CsPbX 3 , X = Cl, Br, or I) nanocrystals (PNCs) have been rapidly developed for multiple optoelectronic applications due to their outstanding optical and transport properties, their device fabrication and commercialization have been limited by their low structural stab...

Improving the chemical resistance of membranes without sacrificing their molecular sieving performance is highly challenging. Herein, a novel scalable methodology was developed for fabricating solvent-resistant nanofiltration membranes based on metal-polymer coordination (MPC) through a facile yet highly effective method. The controlled deposition...

One of the biggest challenges currently in the field of energy generation and conservation is to develop a stable, scalable and cost-effective electrocatalyst with reduced overpotentials for both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). This unprecedented effort presents a robust, non-costly ternary alkali metal-based...

As a principal constituent of living organisms, water is crucial to sustain life on Earth. However, its pollution by major human activities leading to clean water scarcity is a significant issue. Industrial activities release toxic pollutants, such as textile dyes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which pollute water resources and endang...

Membrane separations are considered to be sustainable technologies because of their relatively low energy consumption. However, the fabrication of membranes is yet to turn green. Thin film composite (TFC) membranes are fabricated from petroleum-based monomers and solvent systems, which can undermine the energy-saving benefits of their application i...

Increasing discharges of industrial wastewater, along with ever‐stricter regulations for the protection of natural water sources, have amplified the demand for highly efficient water treatment technologies. Here, electrospun nanofibrous polyimides enhanced with ion exchange properties are proposed as adsorptive membranes for the treatment of dye‐lo...

Dehumidification is a vital process in the cooling industry and has emerged as a promising tool for alleviating the effects of energy-intensive activities. Advanced engineering materials, which can be employed...

Membranes hold a great promise for replacing energy-intensive separations across various industrial sectors. However, membrane production heavily relies on petrochemical-based raw materials; the need for greener membranes is a challenge that is yet to be solved. In this work, we solubilized date seed biomass (abundantly available from the multimill...

Surface engineering of polymeric membranes can induce subtle changes in membrane properties and enhance their performance. Numerous membrane surface modification methods have been developed to improve the material performance. However, these methods can be complex, thus limiting their practical applications. Herein, we present a simple method for f...

Hypothesis The widespread use of antibacterial electrospun nanofibers is mostly restricted due to their low loading capacity to carry antibiotics and the need to use toxic organic solvents to boost the antibiotic loading capacity. Nanofibers based on natural excipients, such as cyclodextrin (CD)-based nanofibers, can carry larger amounts of antibio...

The ubiquitous presence of neonicotinoid insecticides in the environment poses potential health concerns across all biomes, aquatic systems, and food chains. This global environmental challenge requires robust, advanced materials to efficiently scavenge and remove these harmful neonicotinoids. In this work, we engineered nanocomposite hydrogels bas...

The electrospinning of high-performance polyimides (PI) has recently sparked great interest. In this study, we explore the effect of the electrospinning parameters — namely polymer concentration, voltage, tip-to-collector distance and flow rate — and salt addition on the diameter, morphology, and spinnability of electrospun PI nanofibers. Three dif...

The scarcity of clean water is a problem affecting large parts of the world. In fact, the World Health Organization/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (2019) estimates that up to 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services. To address this, desalination techniques such as reverse...

Materials discovery is rapidly revolutionizing all aspects of our lives. However, the design and fabrication of materials are often unsustainable and resource-intensive. Hence, we need a paradigm shift towards designing sustainable materials in silico. Machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI), is emerging within the sustainabili...

Poly(ether-ether-ketone) has received increased attention due to its high thermal and chemical stability, and high performance in various applications. However, it suffers from a semi-crystalline morphology, low fractional free volume, and poor processability, requiring the use of harsh acidic solvents, which leads to undesired sulfonation. In this...

This research reports the fabrication of nanocomposite cation exchange membranes (CEMs) by incorporating negatively charged graphene-based nanomaterials into a non-charged poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) matrix using a mold-casting technique developed in-house. Graphene oxide (GO) or reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets were modified into ion e...

There is an urgent need to develop predictive methodologies that will fast-track the industrial implementation of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). However, the performance prediction of OSN membranes has been a daunting and challenging task, due to the high number of possible solvents and the complex relationship between solvent-membrane, solu...

Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) for water desalination is an innovative technique that could help to solve the global water scarcity problem. However, the development of the MCDI field is hindered by the limited choice of ion-exchange membranes. Desalination by MCDI removes the salt (solute) from the water (solvent); which can drastically r...

The fabrication of graphene nanostructures, with a variety of morphologies and densities of defective sites, can be a promising tool to tune their characteristics towards photocatalytic applications, without the need for external dopants. In this study, the impact of morphological properties in terms of the orientation and defect concentrations of...

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is an energy-efficient separation technique that has the potential to improve environmental sustainability in many industrial sectors, including food processing, biorefineries, and in the production of pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and petrochemicals. Some issues, however, hinder the pace of development of thi...

The catalytic transformation of bio‐derived compounds, specifically 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), into value‐added chemicals may provide sustainable alternatives to crude oil and natural gas‐based products. HMF can be obtained from fructose and successfully converted to 2,5‐diformylfuran (DFF) by an environmentally friendly organic electrosynthesi...

The Front Cover shows the efficient TEMPO‐based electrocatalytic transformation of biomass‐based C6‐platform chemical HMF to DFF. Molecular design, and comparison of size‐enlarged homogeneous and solid supported TEMPOs for the oxidation in the ElectraSyn reactor with cost‐effective electrodes and green solvents are presented. Computation modelling...

Invited for this month′s cover is the group of Gyorgy Szekely at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The image shows the efficient TEMPO‐based electrocatalytic transformation of biomass‐based C6‐platform chemical HMF to DFF using non‐precious‐metal‐based electrodes in green solvents with nanofiltration‐enabled catalyst recov...

Oil spills impose serious ecological threats to the environment and are of international concern. Novel approaches and materials are continuously being sought to improve the cleanup of oil spills. In widespread oil spills, the performance of many materials used as oil sorbents is limited by their low surface area. Here, we describe a novel nanofibr...

The treatment of wastewater from the oil and gas industry presents a very specific problem because the wastewater produced is comprised of a complex mixture of oil and water that can be difficult to treat. In this work, polybenzimidazole (PBI), graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) nanocomposite membranes were developed via the common blade coat...

Several dialkyl‐arylphosphine oxides were prepared, and the enantioseparation of the corresponding racemates was elaborated with host‐guest complexation using TADDOL‐derivatives. The crystallization conditions were optimized and two separate crystallization methods, one in organic solvent, and the other in water, were found to yield five examples o...

Nanotechnology and nanomaterials are among the most significant scientific and industrial research breakthroughs of the 21st century. With the rapid globalization of science, chemists, materials scientists, and chemical engineers are synergistically working together worldwide to understand how to manipulate matter for the benefit of humankind. The...

Sustainable Nanoscale Engineering: From Materials Design to Chemical Processing presents the latest on the design of nanoscale materials and their applications in sustainable chemical production processes. The newest achievements of materials science, in particular nanomaterials, opened new opportunities for chemical engineers to design more effici...

Isolation of individual pharmaceutical-grade bioactive compounds from complex plant extracts is still a sustainability challenge. Process intensification improves manufacturing design to achieve significant benefits in process efficiency and operation, product quality, and waste management. A process optimization and intensification methodology for...