Overcoming the permeability-selectivity challenge in water purification using two-dimensional cobalt-functionalized vermiculite membrane

Abstract Clean water and sanitation are major global challenges highlighted by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Water treatment using energy-efficient membrane technologies is one of the most promising solutions. Despite decades of research, the membrane permeability-selectivity trade-off remains the major challenge for synthetic membranes. To overcome this challenge, here we develop a two-dimensional cobalt-functionalized vermiculite membrane (Co@VMT), which innovatively combines the properties of membrane filtration and nanoconfinement catalysis. The Co@VMT membrane demonstrates a high water permeance of 122.4 L·m −2 ·h −1 ·bar −1 , which is two orders of magnitude higher than that of the VMT membrane…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 2023C03148, 52170041