Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Functional membranes

Leveraging atomic precision in catalytic membranes

A hierarchical membrane design combines atomic-level catalytic precision and industrial-scale water treatment. This design achieves an unprecedented implementation of single-atom catalysts for real-world wastewater treatment at pilot scale.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Cross-scale assembly of magnesium single-atom catalysts and ceramic membranes (Mn–SA@CM) for large-scale hospital wastewater treatment.

References

  1. Luo, Y.-L. et al. Nat. Commun. 16, 1269 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu, T. et al. Nat. Water 1, 1059–1067 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Xiang, H., Feng, W. & Chen, Y. Adv. Mater. 32, e1905994 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Li, L., Chang, X., Lin, X., Zhao, Z.-J. & Gong, J. Chem. Soc. Rev. 49, 8156–8178 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Shang, Y., Xu, X., Gao, B., Wang, S. & Duan, X. Chem. Soc. Rev. 50, 5281–5322 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhang, L. et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 58, 1878–1892 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ma, W. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 56, 8733–8745 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Wu, X. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 56, 1341–1351 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Yang, Y. et al. Nat. Water. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00512-w (2025).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Langming Bai.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bai, L., Liang, H. Leveraging atomic precision in catalytic membranes. Nat Water (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00519-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00519-3

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing