Intelligent design breaks the trade-off between energy efficiency and water flux in ultrafast seawater desalination

Enhancing the energy efficiency for energy-intensive seawater desalination technologies is imperative to sustainably mitigate water scarcity while reducing carbon footprints. This work presents a transformative advance in reverse osmosis desalination technology by fundamentally redefining the long-standing trade-off between energy efficiency and water production efficiency. Through the synergistic integration of bio-inspired ultrapermeable membrane module with state-of-the-art batch reverse osmosis, we demonstrate unprecedented performance—achieving a specific energy consumption of 1.68 kWh m −3 while delivering an average water flux of 95 L m −2 h −1 . This represents a 33%–58% reduction in energy demand and a 5-fold improvement in water flux compared with conventional seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants (2.5–4 kWh m −3 and 15 L m −2 h −1 ), challenging the prevailing assumption that increased membrane permeability offers only marginal efficiency benefits. This work can further guide the development of advanced membrane materials and energy-efficient desalination technologies, with potential applications in desalination and zero/minimal liquid discharge systems.