Enhanced water permeability and tunable ion selectivity in subnanometer carbon nanotube porins

Fast water transport through carbon nanotube pores has raised the possibility to use them in the next generation of water treatment technologies. We report that water permeability in 0.8-nanometer-diameter carbon nanotube porins (CNTPs), which confine water down to a single-file chain, exceeds that of biological water transporters and of wider CNT pores by an order of magnitude. Intermolecular hydrogen-bond rearrangement, required for entry into the nanotube, dominates the energy barrier and can be manipulated to enhance water transport rates. CNTPs block anion transport, even at salinities that exceed seawater levels, and their ion selectivity can be tuned to configure them into switchable ionic diodes. These properties make CNTPs a promising material for developing membrane separation technologies.