Exploring the current state of play for cost-effective water treatment by membranes

This article presents a perspective on the current development and application of membranes for the treatment of water. We examine how membranes contribute to the global challenge of sustainable supply of clean water. The main theme is on desalination and how innovative science and emerging technology is being applied. Thus, we appraise how techniques such as advanced membrane materials, biomimetic membranes, hybrid systems, forward osmosis, and membrane distillation are being used to improve production to meet the increasing global demand for water