Exploiting interior surface functionalization in reverse osmosis desalination membranes to mitigate permeability–selectivity trade-off: Molecular simulations of nanotube-based membranes

Increasing demand for affordable desalinating water has stimulated the vigorous development of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. To date, the performance of polymeric membranes is limited by the permeability–selectivity trade-off: more permeable membranes lead to a less ideal selectivity and vice versa. Significant efforts have been made to identify new classes of ultra-permeable nanoporous membranes, but such trade-off can still be commonly...