BME Seminar Series: The Science of Ultrathin Membrane Separations

River Campus, Robert B. Goergen Hall, Sloan Auditorium (Room 101)

Speakers: Karl Smith, University of Rochester 

Nanoporous Silicon Nanomembranes (NPN) are one of a class of emerging ultrathin membrane technologies with direct application to therapeutic biotech separations. Because of the molecular thinness of these membranes, these nanomembranes enjoy tight separation cutoffs (i.e. they are able to distinguish between molecules differing only 5-10 nm in size) and remarkably high hydraulic permeabilities. We present a model for determining the sieving coefficient for charged particles moving through a charged membrane in a weak salt solution, and detail several ways to experimentally diminish the effect of membrane clogging.