Biomimetic and bioinspired membranes for water purification: A critical review and future directions

Abstract

Various types of channel proteins, broadly named porins, present in the cell membrane of gram‐negative bacteria have specific functionalities depending on their selectivity toward different nutrients or toward water. The high selectivity of porins has led to their incorporation into synthetic systems, in a field called biomimetics. An example is the addition of water channel proteins, or aquaporins, to polymeric separations membranes in order to enhance their performance in terms of selectivity and permeability. The concept of incorporating aquaporins into synthetic membranes has been studied for the last 10 years; however, there are still limitations such as costs, alignment into the membrane assembly, and scalability of membrane fabrication. Therefore, in recent years, there has been an increase in the study of synthesizing molecules with similar structure–function relationships of porins. These artificial channels attempt to mimic the biological porins, while being synthesized using simpler chemistry, being solvent compatible, and requiring less space on the membrane surface which helps to incorporate more channels into the membrane assembly. In summary, the future of biomimetic and bioinspired membranes depends on the design strategies, level of nature imitation, and the performance of these systems on a commercial scale. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13215, 2019

Performance evaluation of aquaporin forward osmosis membrane using chemical fertilizers as a draw solution

“…The first attempt to fabricate an AQPs incorporated membrane were focused on strategies that include fixing proteins on a template as free‐standing polymer films or lipid 36,37 . Kumar et al, developed the first biomimetic membrane for the FO process by bursting AqpZ‐embedded triblock copolymer vesicles on an acrylate functionalized polycarbonate 38 .…”

Water Permeation through Conical Nanopores: Complex Interplay between Surface Roughness and Chemistry

“…[ 7 ] On the other hand, inspired by biological water channels, conical nanopores have been explored for water purification. [ 8 ] For example, an aquaporin‐like nanopore was designed by connecting two conical vestibules, which was found to provide a transition from confined to bulk‐like environment for water, thus reducing transport resistance. [ 9 ] Graphene oxide membranes with hourglass‐shape nanopores were observed to surpass the traditional permeability/selectivity trade‐off.…”

Heterogeneous degradation of oil field additives by Cu(II) complex‐activated persulfate oxidation

“…Generally, FW is usually treated by using coagulation, neutralization, oxidation, activated carbon adsorption alone, or their integration 7 . In addition, the development of aqp‐based biomimetic membranes has created a number of possibilities in the field of water and wastewater treatment 8 . However, these treatments are not ideal and limited in field application for their poor stability in wide pH range.…”