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Research Article

Biomimetic high-flux proton pump constructed with asymmetric polymeric carbon nitride membrane

Yizhu Zhang1,§, Shangfa Pan2,3,§, Yuanyuan Zhang1,2,3,§, Shaoqiang Su4, Xia Zhang1, Jian Liu1,2,3( ), Jun Gao2,3( )
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China
Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China
Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao 266101, China
Physics of complex fluids, University of Twente, Enschede 7522 NB, the Netherlands

§ Yizhu Zhang, Shangfa Pan, and Yuanyuan Zhang contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

In this work, we engineered the structure of the photoactive porous polymeric carbon nitride membrane to construct high-flux artificial proton pump, taking inspirations from the high flux asymmetric biological ion channel and the photonic mosquito compound eyes, and exploiting the structure-induced isotype heterojunction. Our membrane exhibited a pumping rate that is the highest ever reported and is comparable to the biological counterpart.

Abstract

Biological proton pumps ferry protons in an active manner and have a high flux (a few to 10 protons/(s·nm2)). Integrating these features in an artificial membrane may open the way for a wide range of applications but it remains challenging. In this work, we employed a structural engineering strategy to construct an asymmetric photonic polymeric carbon nitride (C3N4) membrane that exhibited photo-driven high flux proton pumping performance. The ion transport path through the membrane is reminiscent of that in the high-flux asymmetric biological ion channel. In addition, it has a photonic structure that mimics the mosquito compound eyes with improved light adsorption. Finally, the asymmetric structure constitutes an isotype (n–n) heterojunction that enhances the separation of the light-induced electron–hole pairs. As a result, the membrane shows a flux of 89 μA/cm2 under 100 mW/cm2 white light illumination (approximately one sun), the highest ever reported. This translates to a pumping rate of ~ 6 proton/(s·nm2), comparable to the biological counterpart. This work highlights the potential of multi-level structural engineering to construct high-performance bionic devices, and may find applications in solar energy harvesting and solar powered membrane process.

Keywords

polymeric carbon nitride membraneion selectivityproton pumplight harvesting

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 1,
January 2023
Pages 18-24
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4659-x
Cite this article:
Zhang Y, Pan S, Zhang Y, et al. Biomimetic high-flux proton pump constructed with asymmetric polymeric carbon nitride membrane. Nano Research, 2023, 16(1): 18-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4659-x
Topics:
Amorphous carbon

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Received: 12 January 2022
Revised: 19 May 2022
Accepted: 14 June 2022
Published: 06 July 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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