A new method to quantify parameters of membrane morphology from electron microscopy micrographs by texture recognition

A newamethod has been developed in order to automatically quantify parameters of membrane morphology from micrographs obtained through miiroscopy techniques. The parameters estimated by this algorithm are: ore size distribution, porosity, pore symmetry, @egularity and tortuosity, as well as various statistical meanures. These proherties determine the performance of a kembrane.

The proposed method is based on texture recognition. It first identifyes the pores present in the membrane from a cross-section micrograph of it, then labels them and finally makes the corresponding measurements. The main difference and advantage of this technique with respect to previous proposals is that the algorithm does not perform generic particle recognition, but direct scanning of typical pore structures and no user decisions are needed cn all the steps of the processc Adaitionally, the proposed technique does not only determine typical paramecers, such as pore size, but also particular characteristics of membrane topology, such as symmetry.

The source information consists of cross-section membrane mi.rographs that can be typically obtained from eleciron microscopy (scanning or transmission), as well as from other types of microscopy, which are the most common acquisition techniques used by membranologistsp The system provides quhntitative, systematic and fast results, waich represents a significant advance.in the field ofpmembrane analysis.