Research on batteries mostly focuses on electrodes and electrolytes while few activities regard separator membranes. However, they could be used as a toolbox for injecting chemical functionalities to capture unwanted species and enhance battery lifetime. Here, we report the use of biological membranes hosting a nanopore sensor for electrical single molecule detection and use aqueous sodium polysulfides encountered in sulfur-based batteries for proof of concept. By investigating the host-guest interaction between polysulfides of different chain-lengths and cyclodextrins, via combined chemical approaches and molecular docking simulations, and using a selective nanopore sensor inserted into a lipid membrane, we demonstrate that supramolecular polysulfide/cyclodextrin complexes only differing by one sulfur can be discriminated at the single molecule level. Our findings offer innovative perspectives to use nanopores as electrolyte sensors and chemically design membranes capable of selective speciation of parasitic molecules for battery applications and therefore pave the way towards smarter electrochemical storage systems.

对电池的研究主要集中在电极和电解质上，而很少有活动涉及隔膜。但是，它们可以用作注入化学功能的工具箱，以捕获有害物质并延长电池寿命。在这里，我们报告了使用带有纳米孔传感器的生物膜进行单分子电检测，并使用了硫基电池中遇到的含水多硫化钠作为概念验证。通过结合化学方法和分子对接模拟，并使用插入脂质膜中的选择性纳米孔传感器，研究了不同链长的多硫化物与环糊精之间的宿主-客体相互作用，我们证明，仅在一个分子水平上可以区别仅一个硫的超分子多硫化物/环糊精复合物。我们的发现为使用纳米孔作为电解质传感器和化学设计膜提供了创新的见解，这些膜能够选择性地形成用于电池的寄生分子，从而为智能化的电化学存储系统铺平了道路。