Within the scope of the project DesalMem – Development of ultra-efficient nanoporous membranes for desalination based on transition metal carbonitrides, approved in the 2022 call for exploratory projects of FCT UT Austin–Portugal, the IPC auxiliary researcher, Bruno Faria, and the PhD student Raquel Santos recently undertook a working visit to the University of Texas at Austin (USA), where they collaborated closely with the team of Prof. Yuanyue Liu.

The project, co-coordinated by Bruno Faria (IPC) and Yuanyue Liu (UT Austin), focuses on the development of innovative desalination membranes based on MXenes, two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides. The project aims to explore the creation of sub-nanometric nanopores capable of simultaneously optimizing water permeability and ionic selectivity. To this end, the team uses advanced computational methods, including Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Density Functional Theory (DFT), which allow the analysis of ion and molecule transport through different porous structures and the identification of the most promising solutions for future technological applications.

During the stay for Raquel Santos, one month (from September 16 to October 16), and for Bruno Faria, from September 16 to 23 joint simulations were carried out, specialized technical training sessions in ab initio calculations were conducted, and several working meetings were held with Prof. Liu’s group. These moments were dedicated to sharing methodologies, preparing future scientific articles, and planning new collaborative projects.

The experience proved to be highly enriching and reinforces the institutional connection between IPC and the University of Texas, as well as the growing international projection of IPC and its research lines in the areas of Computational Chemistry and Advanced Materials.