Abstract: Recently, Livingston and his colleagues published two articles in Nature and Science, respectively, to tackle the challenges of accurate molecular sieving and crude oil separation in the field of membrane separation by preparing ultrathin nanofilms through interfacial polymerization. One is that the nanofilms with ordered sub-nanopores achieve accurate molecular sieving at ångström precision, and the other is that the permeability of hydrophobic polyamide nanofilms to hydrophobic liquid is significantly enhanced by an order of magnitude. The thoughtful design and excellent performance provide a feasible strategy for the development of membrane separation, and show great potential in industrial applications (drug separation and crude oil fractionation).

Key words: Ultrathin nanofilm, Interfacial polymerization, Molecu-lar sieving, Sub-nanopore