Ion exchange membranes in environmental applications: Comprehensive review.

Elyor Berdimurodov, Yokubjon Bozorov, Khait Turaev, Rustam Alikulov, Masud Karimov, Bakhriddin Muminov, Ilyos Eliboev, Muslum Demir, Adeyinka Sikiru Yusuff, Natarajan Elangovan

Journal: Chemosphere 2025;377():144327

PMID: 40120562

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Abstract

Ion exchange membranes (IEMs) are transformative materials in environmental and industrial applications, offering selective ion transport capabilities crucial for water desalination, wastewater treatment, energy generation, and resource recovery. Recent advancements have focused on developing nanocomposite and organic-inorganic hybrid membranes, integrating materials like graphene oxide, silica, and carbon nanotubes to enhance mechanical strength, thermal stability, and chemical resistance. These innovations have yielded remarkable results, such as achieving 77.9 % energy conversion efficiency and current densities of 1000 mA/cm in seawater electrolysis systems. Additionally, advanced IEMs demonstrate significant improvements in selective ion removal, with lithium recovery efficiencies reaching 93 % and fluoride reduction below WHO guidelines. Despite these successes, challenges like fouling, chemical degradation, high costs, and scalability barriers remain. Future research directions emphasize sustainability, with a focus on biopolymer-based membranes, renewable energy integration, and computational modeling. By addressing these challenges, IEMs can significantly contribute to global environmental sustainability and resource efficiency. IEMs are vital in energy generation, enabling ion transport in fuel cells (PEMFCs, AEMFCs) for clean energy, redox flow batteries (VRFBs) for efficient energy storage, and electrolyzers (PEMELs, AEMELs) for hydrogen production. They also support salinity gradient power in reverse electrodialysis (RED) and pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) and facilitate CO electroreduction (CORR) for carbon-neutral fuel production. This review (covering 2020-2024 publication years) explores recent developments in IEM technology, highlighting their applications, challenges, and future prospects in addressing global environmental and industrial challenges.

Address: Faculty of Chemistry, Termez State University, Termez, Uzbekistan.; Tashkent Chemical Technology Research Institute, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.; Chemical & Materials Engineering, New Uzbekistan University, 54 Mustaqillik Ave., Tashkent 100007, Uzbekistan; Faculty of Chemistry, National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, 100034, Uzbekistan. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Pharmaceutical and Chemistry, Alfraganus University, Tashkent, 100190, Uzbekistan; Physics and chemistry, Western Caspian University, Baku, AZ-1001, Azerbaijan; Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Karshi State University, Karshi City, Uzbekistan.; Department of Chemical Engineering, Bogazici University, 34342, Istanbul, Türkiye; TUBITAK Marmara Research Center, Material Institute, Gebze, 41470, Türkiye.; Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, College of Engineering, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.; Centre for Global Health Research, Saveetha Medical College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, India; Research Centre for Computational and Theoretical Chemistry, Anjalam-621208, Musiri, Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India.

DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144327

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MeSH Terms: Membranes, Artificial, Ion Exchange, Water Purification, Graphite