Comment on "Enhanced water permeability and tunable ion selectivity in subnanometer carbon nanotube porins".
Andreas HornerPeter PohlPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2018)
Tunuguntla et al (Reports, 25 August 2017, p. 792) report that permeation of single-file water occurs faster through carbon nanotubes than through aquaporins. We show that this conclusion violates fundamental thermodynamic laws: Because of its much lower activation energy, aquaporin-mediated water transport must be orders of magnitude faster. Leakage at the nanotube-membrane interface may explain the discrepancy.