Electrically controlled water permeation through graphene oxide membranes

Abstract

Developing 'smart' membranes that allow precise and reversible control of molecular permeation using external stimuli would be of intense interest for many areas of science: from physics and chemistry to life-sciences. In particular, electrical control of water permeation through membranes is a long-sought objective and is of crucial importance for healthcare and related areas. Currently, such adjustable membranes are limited to the modulation of wetting of the membranes and controlled ion transport, but not the controlled mass flow of water. Despite intensive theoretical work yielding conflicting results, the experimental realisation of electrically controlled water permeation has not yet been achieved. Here we report electrically controlled water permeation through micrometre-thick graphene oxide (GO) membranes. By controllable electric breakdown, conductive filaments are created in the GO membrane. The electric field concentrated around such current carrying filaments leads to controllable ionisation of water molecules in graphene capillaries, allowing precise control of water permeation: from ultrafast permeation to complete blocking. Our work opens up an avenue for developing smart membrane technologies and can revolutionize the field of artificial biological systems, tissue engineering and filtration.

References in corpus (8)

• Unimpeded permeation of water through helium-leak-tight graphene-based membranes
• Precise and ultrafast molecular sieving through graphene oxide membranes
• Tuneable Sieving of Ions Using Graphene Oxide Membranes
• Probing the Thermal Deoxygenation of Graphene Oxide using High Resolution In Situ X-Ray based Spectroscopies
• Molecular transport through capillaries made with atomic-scale precision
• Ab initio molecular dynamics study of dissociation of water under an electric field
• Optimizing water permeability through the hourglass shape of aquaporins
• Electromelting of Confined Monolayer Ice

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Structure and Chemistry of Graphene Oxide in Liquid Water from First Principles
• Direct observation of water mediated single proton transport between hBN surface defects
• Nanoconfined fluids: Uniqueness of water compared to other liquids
• Water under extreme confinement in graphene: Oscillatory dynamics, structure, and hydration pressure explained as a function of the confinement width
• Osmotic transport at the aqueous graphene and hBN interfaces: scaling laws from a unified, first principles description
• Proton and molecular permeation through the basal plane of monolayer graphene oxide
• Entropy governs the structure and reactivity of water dissociation under electric fields
• Selective transport of water molecules through interlayer spaces in graphite
• Self-limiting growth of two-dimensional palladium between graphene oxide layers
• Resonantly-driven nanopores can serve as nanopumps
• How do interfaces alter the dynamics of supercooled water?