Wang Jing, Zhang Junwei, Jin Pengrui, Wen He, Dai Ziwen, Tan Hao, Yuan Shushan, Yang Jiakuan, Elimelech Menachem
Hubei Key Laboratory of Multi-media Pollution Cooperative Control in Yangtze Basin, School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Aug 9;16(1):7346. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62329-1.
Biological sodium channels efficiently discriminate between same-charge ions with similar hydration shells. However, achieving precise ion selectivity and high throughput in artificial ion channel fabrication remains challenging. Here, we investigate angstrom-scale channels in 15-crown-5 (15C5) functionalized COF membranes for fast, selective ion transport. Due to crown ether recognition of sodium ions, channels in DHTA-Hz-15C5 membranes selectively facilitate Na transport, further enhanced by the hydroxyl-enriched COF skeleton. A Na/K selectivity of 58.31 is achieved with 9.33 mmol m h permeance, significantly exceeding current membranes and resembling biological channels. Theoretical simulations indicate one-dimensional COF channels facilitate transport, while crown ether recognition makes the Na energy barrier significantly lower than K⁺, enabling ultrahigh selectivity with high Na⁺ permeability. This promotes COFs for efficient single-ion transport and advances crown ether ion selectivity in nano-restricted environments.
生物钠通道能够有效地区分具有相似水合壳的同电荷离子。然而，在人工离子通道制造中实现精确的离子选择性和高通量仍然具有挑战性。在此，我们研究了15-冠-5（15C5）功能化共价有机框架（COF）膜中的埃级通道，以实现快速、选择性的离子传输。由于冠醚对钠离子的识别，DHTA-Hz-15C5膜中的通道选择性地促进了Na⁺的传输，富含羟基的COF骨架进一步增强了这种促进作用。该膜实现了58.31的Na⁺/K⁺选择性，渗透率为9.33 mmol m⁻² h⁻¹，显著超过了目前的膜，且与生物通道相似。理论模拟表明，一维COF通道有助于传输，而冠醚识别使Na⁺的能垒显著低于K⁺，从而在高Na⁺渗透率下实现了超高选择性。这促进了COF用于高效的单离子传输，并提升了冠醚在纳米受限环境中的离子选择性。
