Themed collection Microfluidic Systems for Addressing Energy Challenges

The rising demand for mineral resources essential to the functionality of low-carbon energy technologies—critical minerals—and the security of their supply cause one of the most pressing bottlenecks in the journey toward energy sustainability.

This review summarizes recent advances in interfacial electro-hydrodynamic micro/nano-fluidic energy harvesting strategies from water, and highlights their promising applications in power sources and self-powered devices.

This review addresses the main metrological developments over the past decade for microfluidics applied to geosciences.

Multiphase reactive flow in sustainable energy solutions (CCS, UHS, NWGD), coupling the multiphase flow, reactive transport, and microbial activities. The internal schematic diagram is the subsurface storage of CO₂, H₂, and nuclear waste.

This review highlights microfluidics as a disruptive platform for advancing carbon capture and storage, enabling rapid testing, enhanced mass transfer, and precise flow control while offering insight into mechanisms, tools, and design strategies.

This study introduces a method for in situ, site-selective calcite growth, enhancing micromodels for studying microbial-fluid–rock interactions.

A hybrid rotatable flowing water-based energy generator fully utilizes the spatial decoupling of the gravitational force of flowing water in two orthogonal directions and renders efficient water energy harvesting across a wide range of flow rates.

Novel framework integrates rock-embedded microfluidics, ML-enabled image analysis and physics modeling. New conceptual model to quantify gas shielding effects on rock dissolution reactions and calculation of reaction rates from time-resolved images.

A flexible microchannel-confined droplet-based electricity generator (MC-DEG) is proposed, enabling biomechanical energy conversion and physiological signal monitoring.

Overview of pore-scale investigation of salt precipitation: (a) the microfluidic device showing details, (b) magnified heterogeneous regions with more permeable region in the middle, (c) precipitated salts in dark grey with brine and CO₂ labeled.

High-pressure microfluidics reveal how fracture flow dynamics control dissolution–precipitation pathways, providing insights into optimizing permanent geologic carbon storage in mafic and ultramafic rock systems.

Microfluidic observation with methylene blue enhanced gas–water–hydrate phase distinction, revealing five hydrate morphologies shaped by multiphase interactions and showing that gas contact significantly accelerates hydrate dissociation.

We developed a workflow to create quasi-2D microfluidic chips that replicate rock pore structures from 3D CT data. This method preserves pore morphology and size distributions, enhancing microfluidic studies for carbon utilization and storage.

High-throughput evaluation of CO₂ capture fluids accelerates the development of next-gen carbon capture technologies.

Schematics and optical view of the droplet trap chip.

Combined analysis of optical emission spectroscopy and infrared thermography revealing how liquid properties affect plasma ignition in a dielectric barrier discharge microfluidic system where methane-containing gas interacts with organic liquids.

Visualizing CO₂-EOR dynamics: Left—schematic of CO₂ injection in reservoir pores. Right—in situ observations of oil displacement in microfluidic chips. Cross-scale effects boost miscible recovery to 100% but worsen channeling in immiscible floods.

A biomimetic micropump inspired by Luffa cylindrica enhances passive fluid transport by integrating a hierarchical porous aerogel and flow resistors, enabling controlled and sustained operation for microfluidics and energy generation applications.