Achieving high permeability and enhanced selectivity for Angstrom-scale separations using artificial water channel membranes

Yue-xiao Shen, Woochul Song, D. Ryan Barden, Tingwei Ren, Chao Lang, Hasin Feroz, Codey B. Henderson, Patrick O. Saboe, Daniel Tsai, Hengjing Yan, Peter J. Butler, Guillermo C. Bazan, William A. Phillip, Robert J. Hickey, Paul S. Cremer, Harish Vashisth and Manish Kumar ()
Additional contact information
Yue-xiao Shen: The Pennsylvania State University
Woochul Song: The Pennsylvania State University
D. Ryan Barden: University of New Hampshire
Tingwei Ren: The Pennsylvania State University
Chao Lang: The Pennsylvania State University
Hasin Feroz: The Pennsylvania State University
Codey B. Henderson: The Pennsylvania State University
Patrick O. Saboe: The Pennsylvania State University
Daniel Tsai: The Pennsylvania State University
Hengjing Yan: University of California at Santa Barbara
Peter J. Butler: The Pennsylvania State University
Guillermo C. Bazan: University of California at Santa Barbara
William A. Phillip: University of Notre Dame
Robert J. Hickey: The Pennsylvania State University
Paul S. Cremer: The Pennsylvania State University
Harish Vashisth: University of New Hampshire
Manish Kumar: The Pennsylvania State University

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Synthetic polymer membranes, critical to diverse energy-efficient separations, are subject to permeability-selectivity trade-offs that decrease their overall efficacy. These trade-offs are due to structural variations (e.g., broad pore size distributions) in both nonporous membranes used for Angstrom-scale separations and porous membranes used for nano to micron-scale separations. Biological membranes utilize well-defined Angstrom-scale pores to provide exceptional transport properties and can be used as inspiration to overcome this trade-off. Here, we present a comprehensive demonstration of such a bioinspired approach based on pillar[5]arene artificial water channels, resulting in artificial water channel-based block copolymer membranes. These membranes have a sharp selectivity profile with a molecular weight cutoff of ~ 500 Da, a size range challenging to achieve with current membranes, while achieving a large improvement in permeability (~65 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 compared with 4–7 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) over similarly rated commercial membranes.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04604-y

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