Smart membranes change their surface wettability and pore size

and thus selectivity and permeability in response to the environmental stimuli

which are active topics of interdisciplines based on chemical engineering and materials science etc. The recent studies on the regulation of trans-membrane mass transfer and catalytic reaction rates as well as affinity separation efficiency based on smart membranes have been reviewed. Such processes provide attractive features such as mild condition

easy operation and regulation

and high efficiency

which provide new ways to achieve simple and high-efficient operations of mass transfer

separation and reaction.