Interaction-Based Ion Selectivity Exhibited by Self-Assembled, Cross-Linked Zwitterionic SPECIAL FEATURE Copolymer Membranes
Interaction-based ion selectivity exhibited by self-assembled, cross-linked zwitterionic SPECIAL FEATURE copolymer membranes Samuel J. Loundera and Ayse Asatekina,1 aDepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155 Edited by Howard A Stone, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and approved May 18, 2021 (received for review January 4, 2021) Water filtration membranes with advanced ion selectivity are assemblies (10), carbon nanotubes (11, 12), and graphene oxide urgently needed for resource recovery and the production of clean laminates (13). These various approaches face severe manufacturing drinking water. This work investigates the separation capabilities challenges (6, 14), however, and the use of polymeric materials is of cross-linked zwitterionic copolymer membranes, a self-assembled preferrable due to low cost and simple scale-up (6). For example, membrane system featuring subnanometer zwitterionic nanochan- block copolymers (BCPs) have been used to fabricate ultrafiltration nels. We demonstrate that selective zwitterion–anion interactions (UF) membranes with controlled pore wall functionality (15), simultaneously control salt partitioning and diffusivity, with the per- leading to tunable selectivity through solute–membrane interactions meabilities of NaClO4, NaI, NaBr, NaCl, NaF, and Na2SO4 spanning (16, 17). However, the relatively large size of BCP membrane pores roughly three orders of magnitude over a wide range of feed con- (>2 to 3 nm) limits its use for ion separations. Membranes formed centrations. We model salt flux using a one-dimensional transport from packed arrays of random copolymer micelles have demon- model based on the Maxwell–Stefan equations and show that diffu- strated selectivity based on solute charge (9) and aromaticity (18), sion is the dominant mode of transport for 1:1 sodium salts.
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