High‐Efficiency Ion Transport in Ultrathin 3D Covalent Organic Framework Nanofluidics
High-efficiency ion transport is essential for both biological and nonbiological processes, including the regulation of cell homeostasis, energy conversion, and mass transfer in chemical industry. Nanofluidic channels are considered ideal platforms for delicate control of ion transport in their unique nanoconfinement, yet currently reported 1D and 2D nanofluidics are subjected to elevated transport resistance due to discontinuous and random channels. Here, we engineer ultrathin, 3D covalent organic framework (3D-COF) nanofluidics featuring continuously interpenetrated pathways and well-ordered pore arrangements, demonstrating superior ion conductance. The energy barrier for ion transport across 3D-COF nanofluidics is exceptionally low, suggesting ultrafast and low-resistance ion movements. Theoretical calculations indicate that 3D-COF nanofluidics facilitate group adsorption to anions, leading to high energy barriers for anion mobility, thus enhancing ion selectivity and high-throughput cation transport. In osmotic energy applications, 3D-COF nanofluidics achieve a power density of 217.7 W m<sup>-2</sup> with artificial seawater and river water, potentially scalable to 1238.2 W m<sup>-2</sup> under a 500-fold salinity gradient. The proposed 3D-COF nanofluidics offer new avenues for desalination and ion/molecular separation.
Authors
- Yaoxu He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0815-5495)
- Yanglansen Cui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6227-1023)
- Lei Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1760-6917)
- Xuanze Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6409-8690)
- Qingchen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1708-5656)
- Huaqing Du
- Weiwen Xin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6180-768X)
- Ke Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3140-3983)
- Xiang‐Yu Kong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4475-2162)
- Yang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8591-6349)
- Liping Wen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8546-8988)
- Haoyang Ling
- Tianchi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6733-3924)
- Zidi Yan
- Kehan Zou
- Weipeng Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6396-9300)
Institutions
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Suzhou University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-04-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202423073
- Citations
- 13
- Primary Topic
- Covalent Organic Framework Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.73
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China