Carbon nanotube (CNT) pores, which mimic the structure of the aquaporin channels, support extremely high water transport rates that make them strong candidates for building artificial water channels and high-performance membranes. Here, we measure water and ion permeation through 0.8-nm-diameter CNT porins (CNTPs)—short CNT segments embedded in lipid membranes—under optimized experimental conditions. Measured activation energy of water transport through the CNTPs agrees with the barrier values typical for single-file water transport. Well-tempered metadynamics simulations of water transport in CNTPs also report similar activation energy values and provide molecular-scale details of the mechanism for water entry into these channels. CNTPs strongly reject chloride ions and show water-salt permselectivity values comparable to those of commercial desalination membranes.

碳纳米管（CNT）孔模仿水通道蛋白通道的结构，可支持极高的水传输速率，使其成为构建人造水通道和高性能膜的强大候选者。在这里，我们在优化的实验条件下，通过直径为0.8 nm的CNT孔蛋白（CNTP）（嵌入脂质膜中的短CNT片段）来测量水和离子的渗透率。通过CNTPs测得的水传输活化能与单排水传输的典型阻隔值一致。在CNTPs中对水传输进行良好的动力学模拟也报告了相似的活化能值，并提供了水进入这些通道的机理的分子尺度细节。