Current Patents of Dendrimers and Hyperbranched Polymers in Membranes

Dendrimers or other hyperbranched polymers are a new class of artificial polymers with unique properties, such as high degree of branching units, high density of surface functional groups, nano-scaled size, well-defined molecular weight and low-dispersity. These features make them attractive materials in the field of membrane science. This review is a short survey of patents on dendrimers and other hyperbranched polymers in membrane fields such as proton exchange membranes, bipolar membranes, gas separation membranes, and solid-liquid separation membranes, etc.