Fig. 2: Ion-intercalation effects on GO membranes.

XRD patterns of a [AVlm]-GO and b MB-GO membranes in dry, wet, NaCl solution-treated and re-dry states. c The 2D channel sizes of GO, [AVlm]-GO, and MB-GO membranes in dry, wet, NaCl solution-treated and redried states. The dashed line represents the size of hydrated Na+ ions i.e., 7.2 Å. d The occupied states of the molecular orbitals (HOMO-1) of the MB-GO structure (The electron density is plotted for iso-values of ±0.005 atomic units with green and blue denoting opposite signs) and e Side view of optimized MB-GO structure (C, cyan; H, white; O, red; N, blue; P, yellow). f The effects of ion type on the control of 2D channel size of GO membranes. The error bars in (c) and (f) are the standard error of the mean (s.e.m).