Anomalous water molecular gating from atomic-scale graphene capillaries for precise and ultrafast molecular sieving

The pressing crisis of clean water shortage requires membranes to possess effective ion sieving as well as fast water flux. However, effective ion sieving demands reduction of pore size, which inevitably hinders water flux in hydrophilic membranes, posing a major challenge for efficient water/ion separation. Herein, we introduce anomalous water molecular gating based on nanofiltration membranes full of graphene capillaries at 6 angstrom, which were fabricated from spontaneous pi-pi restacking of island-on-nanosheet graphitic microstructures. We found that the membrane can provide effective ion sieving by suppressing osmosis-driven ion diffusion to negligible levels (similar to 10(-4) mol m(-2) h(-1)); unexpectedly, ultrafast bulk flow of water (45.4 L m(-2) h(-1)) was still functional with ease, as gated on/off by adjusting hydrostatic pressures within only 10(-2) bar. We attribute this seemingly incompatible observation to graphene nanoconfinement effect, where crystal-like water confined within the capillaries hinders diffusion under osmosis but facilitates high-speed, diffusion-free water transport in the way analogous to Newton's cradle-like Grotthus conduction. This strategy establishes a type of liquid-solid-liquid, phase-changing molecular transport for precise and ultrafast molecular sieving.

Automated summary

This study introduces a nanofiltration membrane based on graphene capillaries that possesses effective ion sieving and high water flux. The membrane achieves controlled water flux by adjusting pressure, while suppressing ion diffusion. The researchers attribute this phenomenon to the graphene nanoconfinement effect.