Sharif Digital Repository

It has long been an aspirational goal to create artificial structures that allow fast permeation of water but reject even the smallest hydrated ions, replicating the feat achieved by nature in protein channels (e.g., aquaporins). Despite recent progress in creating nanoscale pores and capillaries, these structures still remain distinctly larger than protein channels. We report capillaries made by effectively extracting one atomic plane from bulk crystals, which leaves a two-dimensional slit of a few angstroms in height. Water moves through these capillaries with little resistance, whereas no permeation could be detected even for such small ions as Na + and Cl − . Only protons (H + ) can... 

Functionalized magnetic core-zeolitic shell nanocomposites were prepared via hydrothermal and precipitation methods. The products were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometer, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, and transmission electron microscopy analysis. The growth of mordenite nanocrystals on the outer surface of silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles at the presence of organic templates was well approved. The removal performance and the selectivity of mixed metal ions (Pb2+ and Cd2+) in aqueous solution were investigated via the sorption process. The batch method was employed to study the sorption kinetic,...