Membrane Protein-Based Biomimetic Membranes for Water Treatment

Biomimetic and bioinspired membranes (BBMs) containing MP channels and MP-mimic functionalized materials have emerged as innovative platforms to develop membrane-based separations and purification with specific solute selectivity [1]. BBMs, utilizing biological elements or mimicking concepts from biological mechanisms, can take advantage of processes evolved by nature for enhancing transport efficiency and specificity. The MP channels incorporated have well-organized and uniform inner pore diameters, generating a complete uniformity of pore size in BBMs, in direct contrast to the widely pore size distribution in current commercial membranes [2]. MP-based membranes demonstrate specific small solute selectivity and exhibit greater water permeability than commercial nanofiltration membranes with similar separation ranges [3]. This research is to explore affordable and sustainable solutions for creating tight MP-based membranes with fewer defects. We developed defect sealing strategies to fabricate BBMs with a single deposition step of MP-block copolymer (BCP) crystals combined with defect-filling materials, UV cross-linkable phospholipids-23:2 Diyne PC. The defect-sealed MP membranes demonstrate >7-log MS2 viral particle removal, exceeding 4-log removal suggested by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for water treatment. We will further apply this fabrication process to create biomimetic membranes reconstituted with aquaporin channels for water desalination.

[1] Song, Tu, Oh, Samineni, and Kumar. "Hierarchical optimization of high-performance biomimetic and bioinspired membranes." Langmuir, 35, no. 3 (2018): 589-607.

[2] Tu, et al. “Prospective Applications of Nanometer-scale Pore Size Biomimetic and Bioinspired Membranes.” Journal of Membrane Science, (2020): 118968.

[3] Tu†, Song†, Ren†, et al. "Rapid fabrication of precise high-throughput filters from membrane protein nanosheets." Nature Materials, 19, no. 3 (2020): 347-354.