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Toward Scalable Nanofluidic Osmotic Power Generation from Hypersaline Water Sources with a Metal–Organic Framework Membrane |
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| Authors: | Dr Shangfa Pan Prof Peng Liu Qi Li Bin Zhu Prof Xueli Liu Junchao Lao Prof Jun Gao Prof Lei Jiang |
| Institution: | 1. Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266101 P.R.China;2. Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao, 266237 P.R.China;3. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute of Marine Biobased Materials, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071 P. R. China;4. CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-inspired Materials and Interfacial Science, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190 P. R. China |
| Abstract: | Nanofluidic membranes have shown great promise in harvesting osmotic energy but its scalablity remains challenging since most studies only tested with a membrane area of ≈10?2 mm2 or smaller. We demonstrate that metal-organic-framework membranes with subnanometer pores can be used for scalable osmotic power generation from hypersaline water sources. Our membrane can be scaled up to a few mm2, and the power density can be stabilized at 1.7 W m?2. We reveal that the key is to improve the out-of-membrane conductance while keeping the membrane's charge selectivity, contradicting the previous conception that the ionic conductivity of the membrane plays the dominating role. We highlight that subnanometer pores are essential to ensure the charge selectivity in hypersaline water sources. Our results suggest the importance to engineer the interplay between the in-membrane and out-of-membrane ion transport properties for scalable osmotic power generation. |
| Keywords: | Hypersaline Water Sources Metal–Organic Framework Membrane Nanofluidics Osmotic Power Generation Scalability |