Aquaporin-like water transport in nanoporous crystalline layered carbon nitride

Abstract

Designing next-generation fuel cell and filtration devices requires the development of nanoporous materials that allow rapid and reversible uptake and directed transport of water molecules. Here, we combine neutron spectroscopy and first-principles calculations to demonstrate rapid transport of molecular H2O through nanometer-sized voids ordered within the layers of crystalline carbon nitride with a polytriazine imide structure. The transport mechanism involves a sequence of molecular orientation reversals directed by hydrogen-bonding interactions as the neutral molecules traverse the interlayer gap and pass through the intralayer voids that show similarities with the transport of water through transmembrane aquaporin channels in biological systems. The results suggest that nanoporous layered carbon nitrides can be useful for developing high-performance membranes.

Motion of water monomers reveals a kinetic barrier to ice nucleation on graphene

“…We note that those calculations were performed on free-standing graphene while our measurements are on Ni(111) supported graphene and in particular, the ripples giving rise to the ultra-fast droplet diffusion 26 are suppressed by the substrate 28 . We also note that our measurements on graphene indicate a higher diffusion and hopping rate than experimental values for other substrates 24,43 or in nano-confinement 47 and that the interfacial motion of water is many orders of magnitude faster than bulk diffusion in amorphous solid water 48 (see Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Discussion).…”

Monodisperse Carbon Nitride Nanosheets as Multifunctional Additives for Efficient and Durable Perovskite Solar Cells

“…By contrast, PTI-30 PSC presents more stable current densities, verifying the suppressed ion migration as consistent with the reduced J – V hysteresis. As discussed before, PTI tightly binds with the perovskite crystal surface via hydrogen bonding, so the 2D PTI with periodic electronegative functional groups can suppress ion migration via physically blocking the migration channel and/or electrostatic interaction with mobile ions. − It is noteworthy that while the PTI molecular structure contains intrinsic 12 Å nanopores, these electronegative cavities of the PTI electrostatically suppress the out-diffusion of halides and immobilize organic cations via hydrogen bonding. , …”

Progress in neutron techniques: towards improved polymer electrolyte membranes for energy devices

“…ab initio methods, fully atomistic molecular dynamics-MD-simulations, Monte Carlo methods, etc). The data provided by NS are complemented by computational studies, where experimental parameters are used to feedback into model inputs, providing an effective methodology to understand the formation, stability, and properties of membrane materials, as well as guiding the formulation of advanced designs for specific applications [17,43,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54].…”

“…silica, clay, zeolites, etc) into the Nafion membrane serves to increase the thermal, chemical and mechanical resistance while playing a role in managing water uptake, membrane swelling and ion transport [37][38][39][40]. Recent research is directed at introducing low-dimensional nanoporous materials including graphene oxide or graphitic carbon nitride into the polymeric matrix [4,[41][42][43] (figure 1), or by using metal organic framework membranes [44,45].…”