IonGate - Bio-inspired synthetic active transport membranes based on van der Waals heterostructures

Separating out parts of a fluid mixture is critical for a huge range of human activities, from the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, to battery technologies, to the production of freshwater from seawater. Today we rely on high temperatures, passive filtration or big external pressure gradients to do this. In the IonGate project we will try to use engineered stacks of nanoporous 2D materials to copy biological life’s trick of active transport – concentrating fluid components ‘uphill’ against concentration gradients – using electrical energy.