Soft Particles Enable Fast and Selective Water Transport through Graphene Oxide Membranes

The intercalation strategy is successfully applied in tuning the interlayer distance of 2D membranes for efficient desalination and ion sieving. However, it is difficult to pursue a intercalant that is few nanometers in size and suitable for further chemical modification . Here, for the first time, we report the intercalation of soft particles−polyacrylonitrile gel particles (PAN GPs) inside the graphene oxide (GO) membranes, which allows for a tunable interlayer distance via the deformation of soft particles. Furthermore, the base-induced hydrophobic/hydrophilic structure of PAN GPs facilitates the water diffusion through the GO membrane. A fast and selective water permeation was observed through separation Cu-EDTA2–from water, with the permeance of 4–13 times higher than the reported 2D membranes. Intercalation of soft particles represents a promising strategy to fabricate high-performance 2D membranes.