Aquaporin-embedded biomimetic membranes for nanofiltration

For the first time, planar biomimetic membranes consisting of Aquaporin Z (AqpZ) were fabricated upon cellulose acetate membrane substrate functionalized with methacrylate end groups. By vesicle rupture of triblock copolymer (ABA) vesicles and UV polymerization, a selective layer upon the substrate for nano-filtration (NF) was formed. The AqpZ:ABA ratio was varied from 1:200 to 1:50 and its effects on nanofiltration performance were elucidated. It is found that the NF membranes comprising AqpZ:ABA ratio of 1:50 can give an impressive water permeability of 34 LMH bar−1 and NaCl rejection of more than 30%. This study opens up new possibilities of using AqpZ embedded biomimetic membranes for water purification with advantages that include high throughput with lesser energy consumption.