The Bionic Water Channel of Ultra-Short, High Affinity Carbon Nanotubes with High Water Permeability and Proton Selectivity

Guangli Liu, Bin Zhou, Jinwei Liu and Huazhang Zhao
Additional contact information
Guangli Liu: Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
Bin Zhou: Department of Bioengineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250301, Shandong, China
Jinwei Liu: Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
Huazhang Zhao: Department of Environmental Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: The development of the bionic water channel aims to replace the possible use of natural aquaporins (AQPs) for water purification, while retaining the ability of natural AQPs to carry out ultra-fast water transport and repel ions. Carbon nanotube channels (CNTCs) are a convenient membrane-based model system for studying nano-fluidic transport that replicates a number of key structural features of biological membrane channels. In this report, we describe protocols for CNTCs synthesis by ultrasound-assisted cutting of long CNTs in the presence of lipid amphiphiles. CNTCs have a similar thickness to the lipid membrane and high affinity for it. The ultra-short high-affinity CNTCs have high permeability and ion selectivity. The water permeability of the CNTCs is 1936 ± 123 μm/s, which is 2.3 times that of natural AQPs, and completely rejects salt ions. In general, carbon nanotubes represent a multifunctional nanopore building module for creating high-ranking functional bionic materials. This study has reference significance for the design of new bionic water channel and the actual development of bionic membrane based on CNTs.

Keywords: water purification; AQPs; bionic water channel; ultrasonic cutting; carbon nanotubes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/102/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/102/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:102-:d:467636

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().