Fluorofoldamer-Based Salt- and Proton-Rejecting Artificial Water Channels for Ultrafast Water Transport
Journal
Nano Letters
Journal Volume
22
Journal Issue
12
Start Page
4831
End Page
4838
ISSN
15306984
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Shen, Jie
Roy, Arundhati
Joshi, Himanshu
Samineni, Laxmicharan
Ye, Ruijuan
Song, Woochul
Skiles, Matthew
Kumar, Manish
Aksimentiev, Aleksei
Zeng, Huaqiang
Abstract
Here, we report on a novel class of fluorofoldamer-based artificial water channels (AWCs) that combines excellent water transport rate and selectivity with structural simplicity and robustness. Produced by a facile one-pot copolymerization reaction under mild conditions, the best-performing channel (AWC 1) is an n-C8H17-decorated foldamer nanotube with an average channel length of 2.8 nm and a pore diameter of 5.2 Å. AWC 1 demonstrates an ultrafast water conduction rate of 1.4 × 1010 H2O/s per channel, outperforming the archetypal biological water channel, aquaporin 1, while excluding salts (i.e., NaCl and KCl) and protons. Unique to this class of channels, the inwardly facing C(sp2)-F atoms being the most electronegative in the periodic table are proposed as being critical to enabling the ultrafast and superselective water transport properties by decreasing the channel's cavity and enhancing the channel wall smoothness via reducing intermolecular forces with water molecules or hydrated ions. © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
Subjects
artificial water channel
fluorine chemistry
foldamer
Supramolecular chemistry
water purification
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Type
journal article