Polyamide membranes with nanoscale Turing structures for water purification

TLDR

Turing structures are fundamentally important and their design has practical effects in chemistry and biology. The authors employ a facile interfacial polymerization route to create Turing‑type polyamide membranes for water purification. By controlling reaction conditions, they produced bubble‑ or tube‑shaped membranes that outperform traditional desalination membranes in water–salt separation and feature high‑permeability sites that enhance water transport.

Abstract

The emergence of Turing structures is of fundamental importance, and designing these structures and developing their applications have practical effects in chemistry and biology. We use a facile route based on interfacial polymerization to generate Turing-type polyamide membranes for water purification. Manipulation of shapes by control of reaction conditions enabled the creation of membranes with bubble or tube structures. These membranes exhibit excellent water-salt separation performance that surpasses the upper-bound line of traditional desalination membranes. Furthermore, we show the existence of high water permeability sites in the Turing structures, where water transport through the membranes is enhanced.