Shape matters: Enhanced osmotic energy harvesting in bullet-shaped nanochannels

Laucirica, Gregorio; Albesa, Alberto G.; Toimil-Molares, María Eugenia; Trautmann, C.; Marmisollé, Waldemar A.; Azzaroni, Omar

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104612

Cited by 100 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…developed another asymmetric track‐etched nanopore based on the bullet shape for osmotic energy. [ 288 ] Geometrical parameters and solution conditions were optimized such that a maximum single pore power of 80 pW was achieved in such a PET nanopore. This high single pore power from high ion selectivity exceeded the conventional cylindrical and conical nanopores showing abundant possibilities of the track‐etched nanopore in this topic.…”

Section: Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Track‐Etched Nanopore/Membrane: From Fundamental to Applications

2020

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Biomimetic and bio‐inspired membranes draw great attention and generate extensive efforts to solve environmental, health, and energy issues. In this field, track‐etched membranes present the advantage to be tuned from a single pore to a large‐scale multipore membrane. On one hand, from the large‐scale membrane to a single nanopore, the research becomes more fundamental, meticulous, and quantitative to describe concrete processes inside confined spaces. This allows understanding the role of the surface phenomena and nanoscale effects. On the other hand, working from a single pore to a multipore membrane allows perfect control of the membrane properties. This ensures a promising ability for upscale from the lab findings to applications. In this review, a global insight on the track‐etched nanopore/membrane is taken through presentation of fabrication and functionalization methods, transport properties, and the related applications. By functionalization, track‐etched nanopores can be used to understand ion transport under confined spaces with high aspect ratio, to analyze single molecules, to design stimuli‐responsive membranes, and to generate energy from salinity gradient and light.

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Section: Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Track‐Etched Nanopore/Membrane: From Fundamental to Applications

2020

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“…Nanoporous membranes are central to sensing, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] water desalination and filtration, [9][10][11][12][13][14] and osmotic power generation. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] In most processes, the membrane separates two compartments ion trajectories without affecting the bulk material. The softetched membranes allow the passage of ions whose size is smaller than the channel diameter, excluding larger molecules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nanoporous membranes are central to sensing, [ 1–8 ] water desalination and filtration, [ 9–14 ] and osmotic power generation. [ 15–23 ] In most processes, the membrane separates two compartments filled with electrolyte solutions and the transport of molecules or ions through the pores provides the relevant information required for each particular application. This transport is regulated by the channel size and the physico‐chemical characteristics of the channel surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size‐Based Cationic Molecular Sieving through Solid‐State Nanochannels

Ali

Nasir

Froehlich

et al. 2021

Adv Materials Inter

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filled with electrolyte solutions and the transport of molecules or ions through the pores provides the relevant information required for each particular application. This transport is regulated by the channel size and the physico-chemical characteristics of the channel surface. In biological membranes, the high selectivity and fast ion transport achieved are also ascribed to the precise channel size and functional groups distributed along the channel surface. [24-26] A wide range of experimental techniques are available to tune the channel diameter and surface chemistry to enhance ionic selectivity. They include the preparation of hybrid biological/artificial solid-state membranes, [27,28] channel size tuning through electroless [12,29,30] and atomic layer [31-33] depositions, the grafting of polymer brushes on the channel surface, [34-38] and the deposition of an atomically thin graphene layer on the porous membrane. [39,40] Molecular filtration and discrimination have been achieved using different membranes. For example, Martin and co-workers have employed gold-coated nanochannels for the separation of organic molecules and drug enantiomers based on their charge or molecular size. [12,29,30] Stroeve et al. have demonstrated the pH-responsive transport of ions and biomolecules [41] and Savariar et al. the molecular size-, charge-, and hydrophobicity-based discrimination of organic molecules and proteins [14] using modified nanoporous membranes. Recently, polymer membranes with subnanometer pores have been obtained without specific chemical treatments. For example, track-UV techniques have been employed to fabricate subnanopores which exhibited highly selective and ultrafast ion sieving behavior. [42,43] Moreover, subnanometer pores in metal-organic frameworks integrated inside the bullet-shaped nanochannels of a polymer membrane also exhibited high selectivity towards alkali cations while rejecting divalent ions. [44,45] Recently, we have developed a soft-etch technique to obtain nanochannels in polyimide (PI) membranes irradiated with heavy ions. [46] PI exhibits high chemical, electrical, and heat resistance. Therefore, the chemical etching of ion tracks in PI membranes requires harsh conditions. Usually, the ion tracks in PI are etched with a strong inorganic etchant (chlorine in hypochlorite) at high temperature. Contrary to chemical etching, in a soft-etching technique, the ion tracked PI membranes are exposed to an organic solvent which selectively dissolves the damage trails (latent tracks) caused by the energetic The molecular sieving behavior of soft-etched polyimide membranes having negatively charged nanochannels is described experimentally and theoretically using alkali metal-crown ether cationic complexes and alkylammonium cations. To this end, the electrical conduction and current rectification obtained with different alkali electrolyte solutions (LiCl, NaCl, and KCl) and crown ether molecules (12-crown-4, 15-crown-5, and 18-crown-6) are studied. The results suggest that only the [Li(12C4)] + comp...

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“…One of the popular nanofluidic applications is the osmotic power generation [ 33 , 34 , 35 ], in which the energy stored in a salinity gradient can be converted into electricity with a high conversion efficiency. Recent advances in material science and nanotechnology improved the output performance of the nanofluidic osmotic power generators across over the commercial benchmark (5 W/m 2 ) [ 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent advances in material science and nanotechnology improved the output performance of the nanofluidic osmotic power generators across over the commercial benchmark (5 W/m 2 ) [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Even though such a big progress has been made [ 36 , 37 , 38 ] and there have been several reports showing that the nanofluidic osmotic power performance can be further improved by the incorporation of ICR effect [ 35 , 39 , 40 , 41 ], nanopores and nanochannels have still been suffering from high mass transport resistance from such tiny pore sizes, thus limiting the breakthrough of osmotic power into the practical industry application.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved Rectification and Osmotic Power in Polyelectrolyte-Filled Mesopores

Zheng

Yeh

2020

Micromachines

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Ample studies have shown the use of nanofluidics in the ionic diode and osmotic power generation, but similar ionic devices performed with large-sized mesopores are still poorly understood. In this study, we model and realize the mesoscale ionic diode and osmotic power generator, composed of an asymmetric cone-shaped mesopore with its narrow opening filled with a polyelectrolyte (PE) layer with high space charges. We show that, only when the space charge density of a PE layer is sufficiently large (>1×106 C/m3), the considered mesopore system is able to create an asymmetric ionic distributions in the pore and then rectify ionic current. As a result, the output osmotic power performance can be improved when the filled PE carries sufficiently high space charges. For example, the considered PE-filled mesopore system can show an amplification of the osmotic power of up to 35.1-fold, compared to the bare solid-state mesopore. The findings provide necessary information for the development of large-sized ionic diode and osmotic power harvesting device.

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Shape matters: Enhanced osmotic energy harvesting in bullet-shaped nanochannels

Cited by 100 publications

References 75 publications

Track‐Etched Nanopore/Membrane: From Fundamental to Applications

Track‐Etched Nanopore/Membrane: From Fundamental to Applications

Size‐Based Cationic Molecular Sieving through Solid‐State Nanochannels

Improved Rectification and Osmotic Power in Polyelectrolyte-Filled Mesopores

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