Fig. 1: Design of polymer membranes with regulated pore hydration.
From: Selective ion transport through hydrated micropores in polymer membranes
a, Schematic showing the architecture of hydrated micropores. b, Synthetic route and chemical structures of cPIMs containing pendant groups with varying hydrophobicity. DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide. c, Hydration numbers of carboxylate groups measured in 1 M aqueous KCl at 25 °C. d, Modelled radial number density distribution function, n(r), of water molecules with respect to carboxylate groups in each polymer. Error bars represent standard deviations from five independent simulated polymer boxes. e, Images of polymer pendant groups and the first hydration shells. These images were generated from the simulated boxes of hydrated polymers. f, Cross-sections (10 Å in thickness) of the simulated boxes of hydrated polymers. Polymer chains are shown in line-and-stick representation where grey, red, navy and white represent carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, respectively. Water and ions are shown in ball-and-stick representation where red, white, blue and green represent oxygen, hydrogen, potassium and chloride, respectively. Light blue shading highlights the isosurface of water to visualize water clusters. Box lengths are 67 Å, 68 Å, 62 Å and 62 Å for cPIM-1, cPIM-Et, cPIM-Ph and cPIM-BP, respectively. Scale bars, 2 nm.
