Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Osmosis01:30

Osmosis

Osmosis is the movement of free water molecules through a semipermeable membrane.  The water's concentration gradient across the membrane is inversely proportional to the solutes' concentration. Whereas diffusion transports material across membranes and within cells, osmosis transports only water across a membrane, and the membrane limits the diffusion of solutes in the water. Osmosis is a special case of diffusion.
Water, like other substances, moves from a high concentration of free water...
Osmosis00:47

Osmosis

Approximately 60% to 95% of the weight of living organisms is attributed to water. Therefore, maintaining appropriate water balance within cells is of paramount importance. Osmosis is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane, such as a cell’s plasma membrane. In living organisms, water plays a crucial role as a solvent—a molecule that dissolves other molecules.Diffusion Versus OsmosisBoth diffusion and osmosis are types of passive transport—cellular transport that does not require...
Aquaporins01:25

Aquaporins

Aquaporins or AQPs are a family of integral membrane proteins whose primary function is to transport water, while some called aquaglyceroporins also transport glycerol. In addition, aquaporins have also been suspected to be involved in transporting volatile substances, such as carbon dioxide and ammonia, across membranes. Such AQPs that act as gas channels are often highly expressed in cells involved in the gaseous exchange, such as red blood cells, epithelial cells, and pulmonary capillaries.
Diffusion01:12

Diffusion

Diffusion is the passive movement of substances down their concentration gradients—requiring no expenditure of cellular energy. Substances, such as molecules or ions, diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration in the cytosol or across membranes. Eventually, the concentration will even out, with the substance moving randomly but causing no net change in concentration. Such a state is called dynamic equilibrium, which is essential for maintaining overall...
Diffusion01:21

Diffusion

Diffusion is a type of passive transport. In passive transport, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration is equal across the space. For example, take the diffusion of substances through the air. When someone opens a perfume bottle in a room filled with people, the perfume is at its highest concentration in the bottle and is at its lowest at the edges of the room. The perfume vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the...
Protein Diffusion in the Membrane01:24

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane

Proteins show rotational as well as lateral diffusion across the membrane. The lateral diffusion of proteins was confirmed through the cell fusion experiment where mouse and human cells were fused, resulting in hybrid cells. When the human and mouse cells fused, the specific membrane proteins on human and mouse cells were marked with the red and green-fluorescent markers, respectively. Initially, the red and green fluorescence was located on the respective hemisphere of the cell. As time...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

From Limited to Tunable: Precise Protonation Engineering the Pore Structure of Kevlar Aramid Nanofiber Membranes for Lithium Batteries.

Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)·2026
Same author

Interaction in Confined Environment (ICE): A Composite Descriptor for Quantifying Guest-Host Interactions in MOFs.

The journal of physical chemistry letters·2026
Same author

Machine learning-driven discovery of optimal designs for water electrolysis devices.

Science advances·2026
Same author

MXene-Based Membranes for Selective Ion Separation.

Membranes·2026
Same author

Accurate Modeling of Interfacial Thermal Transport in van der Waals Heterostructures via Hybrid Machine Learning and Registry-Dependent Potentials.

Journal of chemical theory and computation·2026
Same author

Molecular Dynamics Insights into CO<sub>2</sub>/N<sub>2</sub> Separation by a Porous Organic Cage-Supported Ultrathin Imidazolium Ionic Liquid Layer.

Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids·2026
Same journal

Synergistic Ion-Solvent Modulation Derived Robust Multiphase Solid Electrolyte Interphases for High-Rate and Long-Term Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Nano letters·2026
Same journal

Actively Tunable Metalens with Varying Fields of View.

Nano letters·2026
Same journal

Optical Spectral Fingerprinting Enables Sensitive Detection of Anthracycline Chemotherapeutics in Synthetic Clinical Biofluids.

Nano letters·2026
Same journal

Gate-Tunable Magnetoresistance in Antiferromagnetic van der Waals FePS<sub>3</sub> Transistors.

Nano letters·2026
Same journal

Highly Localized Plasmonic Jackiw-Rebbi State from a Topological Phase Transition.

Nano letters·2026
Same journal

Anisotropic Magnetoresistance and Giant Topological Hall Effect in In-Plane Topological Spin Structures.

Nano letters·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)
12:19

Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)

Published on: May 27, 2012

Rapid Water Diffusion through Extended Networks in MOFs.

Xitai Cai1, Wufeng Wu1, Penghua Ying2,3

  • 1School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Green Chemical Product Technology, State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.

Nano Letters
|July 6, 2026
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Water diffusion in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) shows surprising changes with loading. Water forms clusters at low amounts but an extended network at high amounts, impacting MOF performance.

Keywords:
condensable moleculesmetal−organic frameworksmolecular simulationswater diffusionwater distribution

More Related Videos

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
08:01

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

Spot Variation Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy for Analysis of Molecular Diffusion at the Plasma Membrane of Living Cells
05:56

Spot Variation Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy for Analysis of Molecular Diffusion at the Plasma Membrane of Living Cells

Published on: November 12, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)
12:19

Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)

Published on: May 27, 2012

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
08:01

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow

Published on: May 1, 2018

Spot Variation Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy for Analysis of Molecular Diffusion at the Plasma Membrane of Living Cells
05:56

Spot Variation Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy for Analysis of Molecular Diffusion at the Plasma Membrane of Living Cells

Published on: November 12, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Physical Chemistry

Background:

  • The performance of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is significantly influenced by the behavior of confined molecules, particularly water.
  • Understanding water diffusion in MOFs is crucial for applications, but it remains less explored than noncondensable gases.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the loading-dependent diffusion behavior of water in representative MOFs.
  • To elucidate the mechanisms governing water diffusion and its relationship with water-water interactions.

Main Methods:

  • Combined molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations.
  • Infrared spectroscopy and water adsorption experiments.
  • Analysis of water diffusion in ZIF-90, ZIF-8, ZIF-67, and UiO-66.

Main Results:

  • Observed nonmonotonic, loading-dependent water diffusion behaviors in MOFs.
  • At low to medium loadings, water clusters form, decreasing diffusivity with increased loading.
  • At high loadings, water forms an extended network, leading to rapid diffusion, contrasting with noncondensable gases.

Conclusions:

  • Water diffusion in MOFs is governed by water-water interactions and exhibits unique transitions based on loading.
  • Findings highlight the critical role of water clustering and network formation in MOF diffusion.
  • Provides insights for designing MOF-based materials with tailored water diffusion properties.