Massively Enhanced Charge Selectivity, Ion Transport, and Osmotic Energy Conversion by Antiswelling Nanoconfined Hydrogels.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39236070.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c03836 and PMC identifier 11421088.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Developing a nanofluidic membrane with simultaneously enhanced ion selectivity and permeability for high-performance osmotic energy conversion has largely been unexplored. Here, we tackle this issue by the confinement of highly space-charged hydrogels within an orderedly aligned nanochannel array membrane. The nanoconfinement effect endows the hydrogel-based membrane with excellent antiswelling property. Furthermore, experimental and simulation results demonstrate that such a nanoconfined hydrogel membrane exhibits massively enhanced cation selectivity and ion transport properties. Consequently, an amazingly high power density up to ∼52.1 W/m<sup>2</sup> with an unprecedented energy conversion efficiency of 37.5% can be reached by mixing simulated salt-lake water (5 M NaCl) and river water (0.01 M NaCl). Both efficiency indexes surpass those of most of the state-of-the-art nanofluidic membranes. This work offers insights into the design of highly ion-selective membranes to achieve ultrafast ion transport and high-performance osmotic energy harvesting.