Selective ion sieving through arrays of sub-nanometer nanopores in chemically tunable 2D carbon membranes

Abstract

ions is found be 16.6 mV at a 10 : 1 concentration ratio, which amounts to ∼30% efficiency relative to the Nernst potential for complete ion rejection. The pore arrays in the BPT-CNM show similar transport and selectivity properties to graphene and carbon nanotubes, whilst the fabrication method via self-assembly offers a facile means to control the chemical and physical properties of the membrane, such as surface charge, chemical nature and pore density. CNMs synthesized from self-assembled monolayers open the way towards the rational design of 2D membranes for selective ion sieving.