We fabricated a biomimetic nanofiltration (NF) membrane by immobilizing an Aquaporin Z (AqpZ)-incorporated supported lipid bilayer (SLB) on a layer-by-layer (LbL) complex polyelectrolyte membrane to achieve excellent permeability and salt rejection with a high stability. The polyelectrolyte membranes were prepared by LbL assembly of poly(ethylenimine) (PEI) with positive charges and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) with negative charges alternately on a porous hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (H-PAN) substrate. AqpZ-incorporated 1,2-dioleloyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC)/1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammo-nium-propane (chloride salt) (DOTAP) vesicles with positive charges were deposited on the H-PAN/PEI/PSS polyelectrolytes membrane surface. The resulting biomimetic membrane exhibited a high flux of 22 L·m(-2)·h(-1) (LMH), excellent MgCl2 rejection of ∼97% and NaCl rejection of ∼75% under an operation pressure of 0.4 MPa. Due to the attractive electrostatic interaction between SLB and the polyelectrolyte membrane, the biomimetic membrane showed satisfactory stability and durability as well as stable NF flux and rejection for at least 36 h. In addition, the AqpZ-containing biomimetic membrane was immersed in a 0.24 mM (critical micellar concentration, CMC) Triton X-100 solution for 5 min. The flux and rejection were slightly influenced by the Triton X-100 treatment. The current investigation demonstrated that the AqpZ-incorporated biomimetic membranes fabricated by the LbL method led to excellent separation performances and robust structures that withstand a high operation pressure for a relatively long time.

Aquaporin (AQP) based biomimetic membranes have attracted considerable attention for their potential water purification applications. In this paper, AQP1 incorporated biomimetic membranes were prepared and characterized. The morphology and structure of the biomimetic membranes were characterized by in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM), infrared absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and contact angle measurements. The nanofiltration performance of the AQP1 incorporated membranes was investigated at 4 bar by using 2 g l−1 NaCl as feed solution. Lipid mobility plays an important role in the performance of the AQP1 incorporated supported lipid bilayer (SLB) membranes. We demonstrated that the lipid mobility is successfully tuned by the addition of monoolein (MO). Through in situ AFM and fluorescence recovery after photo-bleaching (FRAP) measurements, the membrane morphology and the molecular mobility were studied. The lipid mobility increased in the sequence DPPC < DPPC/MO (RMO = 5/5) < DOPC/MO (RMO = 5/5) < DOPC, which is consistent with the flux increment and salt rejection. This study may provide some useful insights for improving the water purification performance of biomimetic membranes.

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