Precise Size-Selective Sieving of Nanoparticles Using a Highly Oriented Two-Dimensional Supramolecular Polymer

The development of size-selective membranes with well-defined nanopores towards the precise separation of nanometer-sized substances is a challenging task to achieve. Here a supramolecular membrane is presented that comprises a highly oriented, honeycomb-like, 2D supramolecular polymer on a polycarbonate filter support. It enables precise size-selective sieving of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs). Owing to the uniform parallel-aligned nanocavities within the 2D supramolecular polymers, the composite membrane shows a high size-selectivity with a sub-nanometer accuracy in the cutoff size of about 4.0 nm. In principle, the species of size-separable particles are unlimited, as demonstrated by quantum dots, noble metal, and metal oxide NPs. This supramolecular membrane combined with filtration advances the potential of NPs in terms of their monochromatic emission and size monodispersity, and also enables rapid removal of small magnetic NP adsorbents that are otherwise difficult to capture.