Our invited “Feature” article to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the RSC journal Chemical Communications appeared as part of their themed collections: Chemical Communications HOT articles 2025 and Chemistry for a Sustainable World – Celebrating Our Community Tackling Global Challenges.
Lead author on the paper is CNIE PhD student Adriana Bernardes. Together with former CNIE postdoc and current Associate Professor at Donghua University, Dr Zheyi (Jerome) Meng, Professor Luiza Campos (UCL Environmental Engineering) and Professor Marc-Olivier Coppens (UCL Chemical Engineering), Adriana discusses “Bio-inspired Anti-Fouling Strategies for Membrane-Based Separations”.
This work delves into the use of Nature-Inspired Chemical Engineering (NICE) to tackle the persistent challenge of fouling in membrane-based filtration systems, taking inspiration from non-fouling natural membrane filtration processes, as well as other biological mechanisms relevant to water management, and antimicrobial strategies.
The paper examines recent breakthroughs in nature-inspired solutions to mitigate fouling, but it also highlights the importance of finding common underpinning mechanisms, so that a systematic, mechanistic Nature-Inspired Solutions (NIS) framework could be applied to accelerate innovation.
The Feature article demonstrates how the structured, methodological NIS approach can help identifying common themes and patterns in bio-inspired research, paving the way for new insights and more effective designs that combat fouling in membrane separations. By connecting the principles of nature with new manufacturing methods through computationally assisted design, this review showcases the transformative potential of nature-inspired strategies in advancing membrane-based separations.
Reference: Bernardes, A. F., Meng, Z., Campos, L. C. & Coppens, M.-O. Bio-inspired anti-fouling strategies for membrane-based separations. Chem. Commun. (2025) doi:10.1039/D4CC05149A
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