Biomimetic and Bioinspired Membranes

Membranes are the fastest growing platform for water purification, wastewater reuse, and desalination. They are also emerging in importance for carbon capture, hydrocarbon separations, and are candidates for catalysis and sensing. Synthetic membranes trade off selectivity and permeability: a higher-permeability membrane has a lower ability to separate solutes from solution or from each other. A strategy to produce high permeability membranes with high selectivity is to copy nature. We will discuss bioinspired ideas for synthesizing an ideal membrane based on biological protein channels and artificial channels that mimic their structure