Current approaches for treating patients with end stage renal disease include hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, both of which are diffusion-based treatments that require a dialysate solution. The native kidney has separate filtration (glomerulus) and transport (nephron) capabilities. Although artificial methods for simulating glomerular function using membrane ultrafiltration have been proposed, there are no known technologies for simulating the ion transport functions of the nephron. Here we have created a synthetic nephron using activated wafer electrodeionization (AWEDI). AWEDI incorporates mesh electrodes within an electrodeionization wafer, allowing ion selectivity and transport rate to be modulated independently. We demonstrate the capabilities of AWEDI with several physiologically relevant ions which mimic the fine control of ion transport by the kidney. Furthermore, by integrating our AWEDI technology with ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis modules, the possibility of incorporating AWEDI technology in an artificial kidney is demonstrated.

当前用于治疗晚期肾病患者的方法包括血液透析和腹膜透析，这两种都是基于扩散的治疗，需要透析液。天然肾脏具有独立的过滤（肾小球）和转运（肾单位）功能。尽管已经提出了使用膜超滤来模拟肾小球功能的人工方法，但是还没有用于模拟肾单位的离子迁移功能的已知技术。在这里，我们使用活化晶片电去离子（AWEDI）创建了一个合成肾单位。AWEDI在电去离子晶片内结合了网状电极，可独立调节离子选择性和传输速率。我们展示了AWEDI与几种生理相关离子的功能，这些离子模仿了肾脏对离子运输的精细控制。此外，通过将我们的AWEDI技术与超滤，纳滤和反渗透模块相集成，证明了将AWEDI技术整合到人造肾脏中的可能性。