Mimicking the structure of the kidney, a team of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have created a three-dimensional nanometer (nm)-thin membrane that breaks the permeance-selectivity trade-off of artificial membranes.

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Highly permeable and selective membranes are useful for a wide range of applications, such as dialysis, water purification and energy storage. However, conventional synthetic membranes based on two-dimensional structures suffer from the trade-off limitation between permeability and selectivity, arising from their intrinsically limited surface area and long complex pore geometries. Taking a cue from biological systems that achieve a highly selective and rapid trans-membrane mass transport by employing efficient 3D functional structures, the team developed a self-supportive 3D membrane composed of two 3D interconnected channels, which are separated by a nanometer-thin […]

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