Biomimic Heterostructured Graphene Oxide Membranes via Supramolecular‐Mediated Intercalation Assembly for Efficient Water Transport

Abstract Two‐dimensional (2D) lamellar membranes have attracted increasing attention for efficient water purification. However, the low water‐permeability, structural failure in aqua and high production cost have significantly restricted their practical large‐scale applications. Inspired by the structures of glomerular filtration barrier (GFB) and nacre, a high‐performance biomimic membrane via supramolecular‐mediated intercalation assembly is reported, where rod‐shaped cyclodextrin (CD) functionalized attapulgite (ATP‐CD) is intercalated into CD‐modified graphene oxide (GO‐CD) lamellar channels, followed by locking adjacent ATP‐CD and GO‐CD through tannic acid (TA) and CD supramolecular networks. The formed GFB‐like heterostructure endows the membrane with excellent water transport capability and the bionic “brick and mortar” nacre configuration boosts its anti‐swelling stability simultaneously. The heterostructured GO membranes (≈100 nm) fabricated in this way exhibit a good water permeability of 55.6 L m –2 h –1 bar –1 (≈20‐fold higher than GO membrane) maintaining excellent dye rejection of >99% during 480 h immersion. Given the low‐cost materials (ATP, CD, and TA) and the modification generality, this economic strategy can hopefully achieve large‐scale membrane fabrication and afford high applicability, which promotes the practical engineering applications of such 2D material membranes.