ArticleScience advances2025
Nodular networks in hydrated polyamide desalination membranes enhance water transport.
Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Suppressing Polyamide Crystallization Unlocks Ultrapermeable and Highly Selective Nanofiltration Membranes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Quantification of Nanovoids in Fully-Aromatic Thin-Film Composite Polyamide Membranes Using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance Equipped with a Humidity Cell.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- A generalized Knudsen theory for gas transport in disordered porous materials.Nature communications · 2026Article
- In Situ Ptychographic X-ray Computed Tomography of Fully Hydrated Polyamide Membranes.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2026Article
- Macrocycle-assembled membranes for high-salinity organic wastewater treatment.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Resilient high-temperature reverse osmosis desalination membranes.Science advances · 2026Article
- Reconstruction and analysis of pore blockage fouling in ceramic ultrafiltration membranes through FIB-SEM.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Covalent/metal-organic framework membranes with tailored pore functionality for accurate ion separation.Chemical science · 2025Review
- Solvent Transport in Disordered and Dynamic Membrane Pores: Implications for Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes.Environmental science & technology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
For nearly half a century, thin-film composite reverse osmosis membranes have served as key separation materials for desalination. However, the precise structure of their polyamide selective layer under hydrated conditions and its relationship to membrane transport remain poorly understood. Using cryo-electron tomography, we successfully reconstructed the three-dimensional structure of six commercial polyamide membranes under hydrated conditions, revealing a fully swollen nodular network. The highly heterogeneous nodules, measuring 17.2 ± 2.8 nanometer in thickness, were directly connected to the pores of the underlying polysulfone substrate. The nodules occupied most of the surface area compared to the 75.9 ± 26.8-nanometer-thick dense layer of the polyamide film. Key structural parameters of the nodules, including surface area index and wall thickness, were correlated with the water permeance of an additional 16 polyamide membranes, validating the major role of these nodules in water transport. This study enhances our understanding of the heterogeneous structure of desalination membranes and its role in membrane transport.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.