Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Surface Properties of Synthesized Nanoporous Carbon and Silica Matrices
Published on: March 27, 2019
Aquaporin-like water transport in nanoporous crystalline layered carbon nitride
Fabrizia Foglia1, Adam J Clancy1, Jasper Berry-Gair1
1Department of Chemistry, Christopher Ingold Laboratory, University College London, 20 Gordon St., London WC1H 0AJ, UK.
Abstract:
Designing next-generation fuel cell and filtration devices requires the development of nanoporous materials that allow rapid and reversible uptake and directed transport of water molecules. Here, we combine neutron spectroscopy and first-principles calculations to demonstrate rapid transport of molecular H2O through nanometer-sized voids ordered within the layers of crystalline carbon nitride with a polytriazine imide structure. The transport mechanism involves a sequence of molecular orientation reversals directed by hydrogen-bonding interactions as the neutral molecules traverse the interlayer gap and pass through the intralayer voids that show similarities with the transport of water through transmembrane aquaporin channels in biological systems. The results suggest that nanoporous layered carbon nitrides can be useful for developing high-performance membranes.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Aquaporins
Water and Mineral Acquisition
Pore Transport and Ion-Pair Transport
Pore transport, also known as convective transport, is a process where small molecules like urea, water, and sugars rapidly cross cell membranes as though there were channels or pores in the membrane. Although direct microscopic evidence is limited but the concept of pores or channels is widely accepted based on physiological evidence. Despite the lack of direct...
Network Covalent Solids
To break or to melt a covalent network solid, covalent bonds must be broken. Because covalent bonds are relatively strong, covalent network solids are typically...

