Scientists discover how to create tiny water and gas pipes

07 Sep 2016

Manchester researchers have discovered how to create the smallest ever water and gas pipes that are only one atom in size

Materials containing tiny capillaries and cavities are widely used in filtration, separation and many other technologies, without which our modern lifestyle would be impossible. 

Now a Manchester group led by postdoctoral researcher Radha Boya and Nobel laureate Professor Sir Andre Geim show how to make the impossible possible.

The new technology is strikingly simple, using an extracted strip of graphene from graphite. The graphene is discarded and what is left is an ultra-thin cavity within the graphite crystal.

Such atomic scale cavities can achieve not only a desired size but can be smooth or rough, hydrophilic or hydrophobic, insulating or conductive, electrically charged or neutral; the list goes on.

The group tested how water runs through those ultra-narrow pipes and to everyone’s surprise, they found water to flow with little friction and at high speed, as if the channels were many thousands times wider than they actually are.

Radha Boya said: “This is an entirely new type of nanoscale system. Such capillaries were never imagined, even in theory. New filtration, desalination, gas separation technologies are kind of obvious directions but there are so many others to explore.”

Sir Andre added: “Even with hindsight, I did not expect the idea to work so well. There are myriads of possibilities for research and development, which now need to be looked at. We are stunned by the choice.”