Aquaporin-embedded biomimetic membranes for nanofiltration

For the first time, planar biomimetic membranes consisting of Aquaporin Z (AqpZ) were fabricated upon cellulose acetate membrane substrate functionalized with methacrylate end groups. By vesicle rupture of triblock copolymer (ABA) vesicles and UV polymerization, a selective layer upon the substrate for nano-filtration (NF) was formed. The AqpZ:ABA ratio was varied from 1:200 to 1:50 and its effects on nanofiltration performance were elucidated. It is found that the NF membranes comprising AqpZ:ABA ratio of 1:50 can give an impressive water permeability of 34 LMH bar(-1) and NaCl rejection of more than 30%. This study opens up new possibilities of using AqpZ embedded biomimetic membranes for water purification with advantages that include high throughput with lesser energy consumption. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.