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A gelation-phase separation strategy to create membranes with highly selective angstrom-scale transport pathways
Chaoyang Jia1,2, Rui Yao3, Xue Dong1
1Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China. luwenjing@dicp.ac.cn.
Materials Horizons
|August 4, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed ultrathin ion-selective membranes with angstrom-scale pathways using a novel gelation-phase separation method. These membranes offer precise ion sieving and high performance in vanadium flow batteries, overcoming traditional trade-offs.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Electrochemistry
Background:
- Ion-selective membranes are critical for separation processes like desalination and in devices such as flow batteries.
- A key challenge is balancing membrane permeability and selectivity, often addressed by creating angstrom-scale transport pathways within ultrashort structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel strategy for fabricating ultrathin composite membranes with precisely controlled angstrom-scale pathways.
- To overcome the permeability-selectivity trade-off in ion-selective membranes.
- To demonstrate the performance of these membranes in a vanadium flow battery.
Main Methods:
- A new gelation-phase separation strategy was employed, driven by electrostatic interactions between polymer dipoles and additive anions.
- This method induces uniform phase separation at the molecular level, creating tunable angstrom-scale pathways within an ultrashort structure.
- The resulting robust, free-standing 1.4 µm-thick composite membrane was tested in a vanadium flow battery.
Main Results:
- The fabricated membranes possess ultrashort transport pathways and precisely controlled angstrom-scale channels.
- These membranes exhibit excellent ion sieving capabilities for ions with minute size differences.
- The membrane achieved over 80% energy efficiency at a high current density of 240 mA cm⁻² in a vanadium flow battery.
Conclusions:
- A novel gelation-phase separation strategy enables precise, molecular-level control over membrane microstructure.
- The developed ultrathin membranes offer a promising solution for high-performance separation and energy storage applications.
- This approach facilitates the design of advanced membranes by overcoming the permeability-selectivity trade-off.
