Nanoporous membranes generated from self‐assembled block polymer precursors: Quo Vadis?

Nanoporous membranes based on self-assembled block polymer precursors are an emerging class of promising separation, purification, and sensing devices due to the ability of researchers to control the nanostructure and chemistry of these multifunctional materials and devices. In fact, modern polymer chemistry provides techniques for the facile, controlled synthesis of the block polymers that constitute these devices. These designer macromolecules, in turn, can then self-assemble into functional nanostructures depending upon the chemical identity of the synthesized block polymers and the thin film fabrication methods employed. After fabrication, these nanoporous membranes offer a highly tunable platform for applications that require high throughput, high surface area, homogeneous pore size, and varying material properties. And, with these readily tunable chemical and structural properties, block polymer membranes will allow for significant improvements in myriad applications. In this Review, we summarize the key advances, with a specific emphasis on the previous 5 years of work, that have allowed block polymer-based membranes to reach their current level of technology. Furthermore, we project how these state-of-art, self-assembled block polymer membrane technologies can be utilized in present-day and future application arenas. In this way, we aim to demonstrate that the rigorous work performed on block polymer-based membranes has laid a strong foundation that will allow these macromolecular systems to: (1) be major avenues of fundamental scientific research and (2) be parlayed into transferable technologies for the betterment of society in the imminent future. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41683.