Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Liquid and gas purification using membrane materials permits a wide range of critical industrial processes, and here it is discussed how they might achieve molecular selectivity.
It is often assumed that there is a conflict in structural materials between strength (resistance to non-recoverable deformation) and toughness (resistance to fracture), which cannot be optimized at the same time. In this review, new fundamental insight and lessons from nature demonstrate how this conflict can be resolved through a design on different length scales.