MSE Seminar – Prof. Damien VOIRY (21 August 2026)

Until now, nanolaminated membranes based on 2D materials have predominantly relied on interlayer porosity, which typically results in moderate permeance due to the tortuous solvent pathways. While introducing intralayer porosity is highly desirable for enhancing solvent transport, achieving uniform and controllable pore formation within the nanosheets across large areas remains a significant challenge. In this study, we demonstrate that 2D silica nanosheets can self-assemble into superstructures featuring monodisperse, interconnected through-pores. This architecture enables direct, efficient, and high-flux solvent transport across the membrane.

Unlike conventional polymer-based membranes or post-treated graphene derivatives, our membranes harness the intrinsic porosity and chemical robustness of silica nanosheets with uniform, cage-like architectures. Through surfactant-directed synthesis, we precisely tune the pore size, enabling a clear correlation between pore structure and membrane performance in terms of solvent permeance and molecular sieving. The resulting membranes exhibit outstanding separation performance in mixed-solute systems and exceptional stability under harsh organic solvent conditions. Notably, their performance exceeds the current upper bound of state-of-the-art OSN membranes with permeance as high as 700 L/h/, underscoring the strong potential of 2D mesoporous silica as a next-generation material platform for organic solvent nanofiltration.