Nanostructured Virus Filtration Membranes Based on Two-Component Columnar Liquid Crystals

Here we report columnar liquid-crystalline (LC) nanostructured membranes that highly remove viruses and show sufficient water permeation. These membranes were prepared by employing two-component liquid crystals that exhibit tetragonal columnar phases. The membranes exhibited virus rejection values of >99.99% (log₁₀ reduction value (LRV) > 4) and water flux ranging from 19 to 61 L m^-2 h^-1 (operation pressure: 0.3 MPa). These membranes were fabricated by photopolymerization of a fan-shaped diol molecule and imidazolium ionic liquid mixture, followed by subsequent removal of the ionic liquid. The rejection values and water flux depend on the fraction of ionic liquid. These results show new design strategies of materials for the water treatment nanostructured membranes that remove pathogens and contaminants.