Issue 17, 2024

A subnano-confinement in robust MoS2-based membranes for high-performance osmotic energy conversion

Abstract

Osmotic energy harvesting from salinity gradients shows great potential for sustainable electricity generation, which can be fulfilled using two-dimensional ion-selective nanofluidic devices. Metal dichalcogenide membranes like MoS2 exhibit good anti-swelling properties in aqueous solution and can be applied in nanofluidic device development. However, conventional MoS2-based membranes encounter the major issue of low ion selectivity, reducing the electricity generation efficiency. In this paper, we propose the strategy of subnano-confinement using the environmentally benign hydrophilic bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) with negative charges to create high ion-selectivity channels in robust MoS2-based membranes. The developed membrane exhibited an interlayer spacing of 9.8 Å with desirable negativity in nanochannels, thus generating a favorable confinement for enhancing Na+ transport but blocking Cl. The tested membrane provided an area of 0.78 mm2, exceeding those of other reported macroscopic-scale membranes. The electrochemical device delivered the power densities of 73 and 233 W m−2 at ambient temperature and 343 K, respectively, under a 50-fold concentration gradient, outperforming previously reported 2D nanofluidic membranes by a factor of up to 70. Furthermore, the membrane exhibited exceptional long-term stability up to 40 days without performance decay. The current work makes a breakthrough in developing 2D nanofluidic membranes for harvesting osmotic energy.

Graphical abstract: A subnano-confinement in robust MoS2-based membranes for high-performance osmotic energy conversion

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Mar 2024
Accepted
12 Jul 2024
First published
18 Jul 2024

Energy Environ. Sci., 2024,17, 6225-6233

A subnano-confinement in robust MoS2-based membranes for high-performance osmotic energy conversion

X. Wang, Z. Wang, Z. Xue, Y. Fan, J. Yang, Q. Zhang, N. Yang, X. Meng, Y. Jin and S. Liu, Energy Environ. Sci., 2024, 17, 6225 DOI: 10.1039/D4EE01381F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements