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Facilitated Water Transport through Graphene Oxide Membranes Functionalized with Aquaporin‐Mimicking Peptides
Author(s) -
Lee Chang Seon,
Choi Moonki,
Hwang Ye Young,
Kim Hyunki,
Kim Moon Ki,
Lee Yun Jung
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201705944
Subject(s) - aquaporin , membrane , water channel , water transport , graphene , materials science , biophysics , molecular dynamics , arginine , oxide , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , water flow , amino acid , biology , environmental engineering , engineering , mechanical engineering , computational chemistry , inlet , metallurgy
Water purification by membranes is widely investigated to address concerns related to the scarcity of clean water. Achieving high flux and rejection simultaneously is a difficult challenge using such membranes because these properties are mutually exclusive in common artificial membranes. Nature has developed a method for this task involving water‐channel membrane proteins known as aquaporins. Here, the design and fabrication of graphene oxide (GO)‐based membranes with a surface‐tethered peptide motif designed to mimic the water‐selective filter of natural aquaporins is reported. The short RF8 (RFRFRFRF, where R and F represent arginine and phenylalanine, respectively) octapeptide is a concentrated form of the core component of the Ar/R (aromatic/arginine) water‐selective filter in aquaporin. The resulting GO‐RF8 shows superior flux and high rejection similar to natural aquaporins. Molecular dynamics simulation reveal the unique configuration of RF8 peptides and the transport of water in GO‐RF8 membranes, supporting that RF8 effectively emulates the core function of aquaporins.