High‐Performance Artificial Lithium Channel Enabled by a Brominated Organic Imine Cage
ABSTRACT Despite extensive advancements in the design of artificial transporters for K + , Cl − and water, the development of Li + ‐selective systems has remained comparatively neglected, largely due to its smaller ionic radius and higher hydration energy that pose significant design challenges. To date, only three classes of artificial Li + transporters have been reported. In this work, we introduce a novel fourth class of artificial Li + channels, constructed from unique self‐assembling organic imine cages that form membrane‐spanning porous architectures. By incorporating bromine substituents, the resulting channel exhibits not only the highest Li + transport activity (EC 50 of 0.017 mol‰, relative to lipids) but also unprecedented selectivity, with Li + /Na + and Li + /K + selectivity factors of 44 and 52 respectively, marking a new benchmark in transmembrane Li + transport performance.
Authors
- Yingxue Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7976-2785)
- Zian Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0866-0711)
- Huaqiang Zeng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8246-2000)
- Ying Xu
- Zhentao Luo
- Jie Shen
- QingYan Liu
- Wenju Chang
Institutions
- Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter (CN)
- Fuzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie
- Published
- 2026-04-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.2715806
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province