Co‐Assembly of Carbon Nanotube Porins into Biomimetic Peptoid Membranes

Abstract

Robust and cost‐effective membrane‐based separations are essential to solving many global crises, such as the lack of clean water. Even though the current polymer‐based membranes are widely used for separations, their performance and precision can be enhanced by using a biomimetic membrane architecture that consists of highly permeable and selective channels embedded in a universal membrane matrix. Researchers have shown that artificial water and ion channels, such as carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs), embedded in lipid membranes can deliver strong separation performance. However, their applications are limited by the relative fragility and low stability of the lipid matrix. In this work, we demonstrate that CNTPs can co‐assemble into two dimension (2D) peptoid membrane nanosheets, opening up a way to produce highly programmable synthetic membranes with superior crystallinity and robustness. A combination of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements to verify the co‐assembly of CNTP and peptoids are used and show that it does not disrupt peptoid monomer packing within the membrane. These results provide a new option for designing affordable artificial membranes and highly robust nanoporous solids.

Access to Advanced Functional Materials through Postmodification of Biomimetic Assemblies via Click Chemistry

“…This key difference eliminates backbone hydrogen bonding, which in turn decreases structural complexity and enables the ability to tune molecular interactions exclusively through side-chain chemistry. Furthermore, the N-substitution increases peptoid stability against proteolysis and elevated temperature conditions. ,, Peptoids are commonly synthesized using the submonomer solid-phase synthesis method which enables an enormous diversity of side-chain chemistries. ,, Thus, a large number of peptoid sequences have been synthesized and exploited for the self-assembly of various nanostructures, such as nanomembranes, ,− nanosheets, nanotubes, − nanofibers, , and nanoribbons. , Due to ease of synthesis, peptoid submonomers could be sourced from many commercially available amines; thus, incorporating reactive moieties for facile conjugation reactions is highly attainable.…”

Atomic Charge Dependency of Spiropyran/Merocyanine Adsorption as a Precursor to Surface Isomerization Reactions

“…Molecular mechanics (MM) calculations offer powerful tools to explore adsorption geometries, energies, and film growth parameters. − Various force fields can be utilized for different combinations of adsorbates and substrates. − These MM calculations can be advantageous over purely quantum chemistry approaches due to requirements of less computational power and therefore faster speeds. Obviously, this requires approximation schemes that are suitable for the investigated system.…”