writer：Facui Yang, Fei Tao, Chen Li, Lingxiang Gao, Peng Yang*
keywords：Amyloid, Protein membrane, separation, dialysis, filtration
source：期刊
specific source：Nature Communications
Issue time：2018年

The design and scalable construction of robust ultrathin protein membranes with tunable separation properties remain a key challenge in chemistry and materials science. Here, we report a macroscopic ultrathin protein membrane with the potential for scaled-up fabrication and excellent separation efficiency. This membrane, which is formed by fast amyloid-like lysozyme aggregation at air/water interface, has a controllable thickness that can be tuned to 30-250 nm and pores with a mean size that can be tailored from 1.8 to 3.2 nm by the protein concentration. This membrane can retain >3 nm molecules and particles while permitting the transport of small molecules at a rate that is 1~4 orders of magnitude faster than the rate of existing materials. This membrane further exhibits excellent hemodialysis performance, especially for the removal of middle-molecular-weight uremic toxins, which is 5~6 times higher in the clearance per unit area than the typical literature values reported to date.

Facui Yang, Fei Tao, Chen Li, Lingxiang Gao, Peng Yang*. Self-assembled membrane composed of amyloid-like proteins for efficient size-selective molecular separation and dialysis. Nature Commun. 2018, in press (NCOMMS-18-12499C).