Context:The process of knowledge translation (KT) in health research depends on the activities of a wide range of actors, including health professionals, researchers, the public, policymakers, and research funders. Little is known, however, about health research funding agencies' support and promotion of KT. Our team asked thirty-three agencies from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and the United States about their role in promoting the results of the research they fund.Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted with a sample of key informants from applied health funding agencies identified by the investigators. The interviews were supplemented with information from the agencies' websites. The final coding was derived from an iterative thematic analysis. engagement in this process. The agencies' abilities to create a pull for research findings; to engage in linkage and exchange between agencies, researchers, and decision makers; and to push results to various audiences differed as well. Finally, the evaluation of the effectiveness of KT strategies remains a methodological challenge. Conclusions:Funding agencies need to think about both their conceptual framework and their operational definition of KT, so that it is clear what is and what is not considered to be KT, and adjust their funding opportunities and activities accordingly. While we have cataloged the range of knowledge translation activities conducted across these agencies, little is known about their effectiveness and so a greater emphasis on evaluation is needed. It would appear that "best practice" for funding agencies is an elusive concept depending on the particular agency's size, context, mandate, financial considerations, and governance structure.

Transmembrane protein channels, including ion channels and aquaporins that are responsible for fast and selective transport of water, have inspired membrane scientists to exploit and mimic their performance in membrane technologies. These biomimetic membranes comprise discrete nanochannels aligned within amphiphilic matrices on a robust support. While biological components have been used directly, extensive work has also been conducted to produce stable synthetic mimics of protein channels and lipid bilayers. However, the experimental performance of biomimetic membranes remains far below that of biological membranes. In this review, we critically assess the status and potential of biomimetic desalination membranes. We first review channel chemistries and their transport behavior, identifying key characteristics to optimize water permeability and salt rejection. We compare various channel types within an industrial context, considering transport performance, processability, and stability. Through a re-examination of previous vesicular stopped-flow studies, we demonstrate that incorrect permeability equations result in an overestimation of the water permeability of nanochannels. We find in particular that the most optimized aquaporin-bearing bilayer had a pure water permeability of 2.1 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 , which is comparable to that of current stateof-the-art polymeric desalination membranes. Through a quantitative assessment of biomimetic membrane formats, we analytically show that formats incorporating intact vesicles offer minimal benefit, whereas planar biomimetic selective layers could allow for dramatically improved salt rejections. We then show that the persistence of nanoscale defects explains observed subpar performance. We conclude with a discussion on optimal strategies for minimizing these defects, which could enable breakthrough performance.

Synthetic polymer membranes are enabling components in key technologies at the water–energy nexus, including desalination and energy conversion, because of their high water/salt selectivity or ionic conductivity. However, many applications at the water–energy nexus require ion selectivity, or separation of specific ionic species from other similar species. Here, the ion selectivity of conventional polymeric membrane materials is assessed and recent progress in enhancing selective transport via tailored free volume elements and ion–membrane interactions is described. In view of the limitations of polymeric membranes, three material classes—porous crystalline materials, 2D materials, and discrete biomimetic channels—are highlighted as possible candidates for ion‐selective membranes owing to their molecular‐level control over physical and chemical properties. Lastly, research directions and critical challenges for developing bioinspired membranes with molecular recognition are provided.

Reverse osmosis (RO) has become a premier technology for desalination and water purification. The need for increased selectivity has incentivized research into novel membranes, such as biomimetic membranes that incorporate the perfectly selective biological water channel aquaporin or synthetic water channels like carbon nanotubes. In this study, we consider the performance of composite biomimetic membranes by projecting water permeability, salt rejection, and neutral-solute retention based on the permeabilities of the individual components, particularly the water channel, the amphiphilic bilayer matrix, and potential support layers that include polymeric RO, nanofiltration (NF), and porous ultrafiltration membranes. We find that the support layer will be crucial in the overall performance. Selective, relatively low-permeability supports minimize the negative impact of defects in the biomimetic layer, which are currently the main performance-limiting factor for biomimetic membranes. In particular, RO membranes as support layers would enable >99.85% salt rejection at ∼10000-fold greater biomimetic-layer defect area than for porous supports. By fundamentally characterizing neutral-solute permeation through RO and NF membranes, we show that RO membranes as support layers would enable high rejection of organic pollutants based on molecular size, overcoming the rapid permeation of hydrophobic solutes through the biomimetic layer. A biomimetic membrane could also achieve exceptionally high boron rejections of ∼99.7%, even with 1% defect area in the biomimetic layer. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for biomimetic membrane design.

State-of-the-art polymeric membranes are unable to perform the high-precision ion separations needed for technologies essential to a circular economy and clean energy future. Coordinative interactions are a mechanism to increase sorption of a target species into a membrane, but the effects of these interactions on membrane permeability and selectivity are poorly understood. We use a multilayered polymer membrane to assess how ion-membrane binding energies affect membrane permeability of similarly sized cations: Cu 2+ , Ni 2+ , Zn 2+ , Co 2+ , and Mg 2+ . We report that metals with higher binding energy to iminodiacetate groups of the polymer more selectively permeate through the membrane in multisalt solutions than single-salt solutions. In contrast, weaker binding species are precluded from diffusing into the polymer membrane, which leads to passage proportional to binding energy and independent of membrane thickness. Our findings demonstrate that selectivity of polymeric membranes can markedly increase by tailoring ion-membrane binding energy and minimizing membrane thickness.