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Science 19 May 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5776, pp. 1034 - 1037
DOI: 10.1126/science.1126298
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Reports

Fast Mass Transport Through Sub-2-Nanometer Carbon Nanotubes

Jason K. Holt,1* Hyung Gyu Park,1,2* Yinmin Wang,1 Michael Stadermann,1 Alexander B. Artyukhin,1 Costas P. Grigoropoulos,2 Aleksandr Noy,1 Olgica Bakajin1{dagger}

We report gas and water flow measurements through microfabricated membranes in which aligned carbon nanotubes with diameters of less than 2 nanometers serve as pores. The measured gas flow exceeds predictions of the Knudsen diffusion model by more than an order of magnitude. The measured water flow exceeds values calculated from continuum hydrodynamics models by more than three orders of magnitude and is comparable to flow rates extrapolated from molecular dynamics simulations. The gas and water permeabilities of these nanotube-based membranes are several orders of magnitude higher than those of commercial polycarbonate membranes, despite having pore sizes an order of magnitude smaller. These membranes enable fundamental studies of mass transport in confined environments, as well as more energy-efficient nanoscale filtration.

1 Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bakajin1{at}llnl.gov

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From The Cover: Nanomaterials in Medicine Special Feature Sackler Colloquium: Ion exclusion by sub-2-nm carbon nanotube pores.
F. Fornasiero, H. G. Park, J. K. Holt, M. Stadermann, C. P. Grigoropoulos, A. Noy, and O. Bakajin (2008)
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Electrostatic gating of a nanometer water channel.
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