RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Water-ion permselectivity of narrow-diameter carbon nanotubes
JF Science Advances
JO Sci Adv
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP eaba9966
DO 10.1126/sciadv.aba9966
VO 6
IS 38
A1 Li, Yuhao
A1 Li, Zhongwu
A1 Aydin, Fikret
A1 Quan, Jana
A1 Chen, Xi
A1 Yao, Yun-Chiao
A1 Zhan, Cheng
A1 Chen, Yunfei
A1 Pham, Tuan Anh
A1 Noy, Aleksandr
YR 2020
UL http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/38/eaba9966.abstract
AB Carbon nanotube (CNT) pores, which mimic the structure of the aquaporin channels, support extremely high water transport rates that make them strong candidates for building artificial water channels and high-performance membranes. Here, we measure water and ion permeation through 0.8-nm-diameter CNT porins (CNTPs)—short CNT segments embedded in lipid membranes—under optimized experimental conditions. Measured activation energy of water transport through the CNTPs agrees with the barrier values typical for single-file water transport. Well-tempered metadynamics simulations of water transport in CNTPs also report similar activation energy values and provide molecular-scale details of the mechanism for water entry into these channels. CNTPs strongly reject chloride ions and show water-salt permselectivity values comparable to those of commercial desalination membranes.