Artificial sodium-selective ionic device based on crown-ether crystals with subnanometer pores

Tingyan Ye, Gaolei Hou, Wen Li, Chaofeng Wang, Kangyan Yi, Nannan Liu*, Jian Liu, Shaoming Huang*, Jun Gao*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

69 Citations (Scopus)
55 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Biological sodium channels ferry sodium ions across the lipid membrane while rejecting potassium ions and other metal ions. Realizing such ion selectivity in an artificial solid-state ionic device will enable new separation technologies but remains highly challenging. In this work, we report an artificial sodium-selective ionic device, built on synthesized porous crown-ether crystals which consist of densely packed 0.26-nm-wide pores. The Na+ selectivity of the artificial sodium-selective ionic device reached 15 against K +, which is comparable to the biological counterpart, 523 against Ca2 +, which is nearly two orders of magnitude higher than the biological one, and 1128 against Mg2 +. The selectivity may arise from the size effect and molecular recognition effect. This work may contribute to the understanding of the structure-performance relationship of ion selective nanopores.
Original languageEnglish
Article number5231
JournalNature Communications
Volume12
Online published1 Sept 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Publisher's Copyright Statement

  • This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Artificial sodium-selective ionic device based on crown-ether crystals with subnanometer pores'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this