Abstract Nanochannels fabricated from the aggregation of charged amphiphilic nanoparticles are of growing interest. The nanochannel size can be further affected by electrostatic interactions between these nanoparticles and metal cations. Herein, size-tunable nanochannels (from 0.5 to 1.4 nm in average) are obtained via regulating the aggregation of anionic nanoparticles using sulfonated polysulfone (SPSF) nanoparticles as a model. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images and dynamic light scattering (DLS) curves show the aggregates of SPSF nanoparticles in a wide range from nanoscale to micrometer-scale via adding different metal cations. Further analysis of the nanochannels shows the quantitative correlation between ionic strength of metal cations (ISMC) and nanochannel size. Preliminary evaluation of the size-tunable nanochannels exhibits a good separation performance with the Na2SO4 rejection of 98.3% and water flux of 5.8 L m-2 h-1 bar-1, indicating a high level among the reported researches.

中文翻译：

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调节阴离子纳米粒子的聚集以实现尺寸可调的纳米通道

摘要 由带电两亲性纳米粒子聚集而成的纳米通道越来越受到关注。这些纳米颗粒和金属阳离子之间的静电相互作用会进一步影响纳米通道的尺寸。在此，通过使用磺化聚砜 (SPSF) 纳米粒子作为模型调节阴离子纳米粒子的聚集，获得了尺寸可调的纳米通道（平均从 0.5 到 1.4 nm）。透射电子显微镜 (TEM) 图像和动态光散射 (DLS) 曲线显示，通过添加不同的金属阳离子，SPSF 纳米粒子在从纳米级到微米级的广泛范围内聚集。对纳米通道的进一步分析显示了金属阳离子的离子强度 (ISMC) 与纳米通道尺寸之间的定量相关性。