Diverse Polymer Nanomembranes Toward <scp>Task‐Specific</scp> Applications

Abstract

In recent years, significant research progress has been devoted toward the development of diverse high-performance nanomembranes made by polymeric materials. The outstanding properties of polymeric materials could be further improved by forming structures with an extremely high aspect ratio and a small thickness. The thin two-dimensional structures, typically named nanomembranes, show unconventional characteristics in mechanical properties, optical properties, permeability, stability, stimuli responsiveness, etc. These polymeric membranes with thickness in the nanoscale have been used in versatile environmental and engineering applications such as gas separation, waste water treatment, materials separation, energy devices, soft origami, soft actuators, and soft robots. This chapter aims to review the state of the art of polymeric nanomembranes from their fabrication and functionalization, materials properties, to their applications in environmental, energy, biomedical fields.