Differences in water and vapor transport through angstrom-scale pores in atomically thin membranes

Peifu Cheng; Francesco Fornasiero; Melinda L Jue; Wonhee Ko; An-Ping Li; Juan Carlos Idrobo; Michael S H Boutilier; Piran R Kidambi

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34172-1

Differences in water and vapor transport through angstrom-scale pores in atomically thin membranes

Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 7;13(1):6709. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34172-1.

Authors

Peifu Cheng¹, Francesco Fornasiero², Melinda L Jue², Wonhee Ko³, An-Ping Li³, Juan Carlos Idrobo^{3

4}, Michael S H Boutilier⁵, Piran R Kidambi^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA.
² Physical and Life Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA.
³ Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
⁴ Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, ON, N6A 5B9, Canada.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA. piran.kidambi@vanderbilt.edu.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA. piran.kidambi@vanderbilt.edu.
⁸ Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Sciences and Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA. piran.kidambi@vanderbilt.edu.

Abstract

The transport of water through nanoscale capillaries/pores plays a prominent role in biology, ionic/molecular separations, water treatment and protective applications. However, the mechanisms of water and vapor transport through nanoscale confinements remain to be fully understood. Angstrom-scale pores (~2.8-6.6 Å) introduced into the atomically thin graphene lattice represent ideal model systems to probe water transport at the molecular-length scale with short pores (aspect ratio ~1-1.9) i.e., pore diameters approach the pore length (~3.4 Å) at the theoretical limit of material thickness. Here, we report on orders of magnitude differences (~80×) between transport of water vapor (~44.2-52.4 g m^-2 day^-1 Pa^-1) and liquid water (0.6-2 g m^-2 day^-1 Pa^-1) through nanopores (~2.8-6.6 Å in diameter) in monolayer graphene and rationalize this difference via a flow resistance model in which liquid water permeation occurs near the continuum regime whereas water vapor transport occurs in the free molecular flow regime. We demonstrate centimeter-scale atomically thin graphene membranes with up to an order of magnitude higher water vapor transport rate (~5.4-6.1 × 10⁴g m^-2 day^-1) than most commercially available ultra-breathable protective materials while effectively blocking even sub-nanometer (>0.66 nm) model ions/molecules.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gases
Graphite*
Ions
Membranes
Nanopores*
Steam

Substances

Graphite
Steam
Gases
Ions